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Matthew J. Kraay, MS, MD, Director, Center for Joint Replacement and Preservation at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and the Kingsbury G. Heiple and Fred A. Lennon Professor of Orthopaedics at Case Western Reserve University, has been appointed to the Board of Commissioners of The American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR). A landmark initiative of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the AJRR is the largest orthopaedic patient registry in the US. Its mission is to promote "a national center for data collection and research on total hip and knee replacement with far-reaching benefits to society including reduced morbidity and mortality, improved patient safety, improved quality of care and medical decision-making, reduced medical spending, and advances in orthopaedic sci - ence and bioengineering." In addition to the AAOS, the AJRR is a col - laboration among the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, The Hip Society, The Knee Society, CMS, third party payers, and the orthopaedic manufacturing Industry. Marc Penn, MD, PhD, FACC, Director of Cardiovascular Research at Summa Health System, recently completed a Phase II trial that examined the JVS-100 drug and its effectiveness in using the body's own stem cells to repair damaged areas of the heart. In the trial, called STOP-HF, 93 partici - pants received either a single treatment of a low dose of JVS-100, a high dose of JVS- 100, or placebo. They were then followed and evaluated at two points — four months and one year later — to test their heart function. In the STOP-HF trial, JVS-100 reduced the size of the heart by about 8 percent and improved ejection fraction by about 2 percent overall, and higher doses of the treatment worked better. Participants in the STOP-HF trial are still being followed and the company will report final results by the end of this year. ■ Local Docs in National News