Lake Nona’s newest headquarters is advancing the physical therapy industry with an innovative new system
Lake Nona resident and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Reuben Gobezie had a problem. It was difficult for him to monitor his patients’ physical therapy (PT) progress following surgery, and he knew there had to be a better way to help them recover faster and with less pain.
“There was a challenge in understanding how effective a surgical procedure was if we couldn’t account for the quality of rehab between patient visits,” said Dr. Gobezie.
And that’s where the idea for PT Genie was born – a home-based, wearable device that keeps patients connected with their physical therapist and doctor while doing PT exercises from home.
“I do a lot of clinical research on all the different ways we can do things better in orthopedics,” said Dr. Gobezie. “About five or six years ago, the idea for PT Genie came about following a conversation with a friend from Harvard Medical School as a research tool that turned into a leading company for outpatient monitoring.”
A nationally-recognized leader in shoulder care, Dr. Gobezie was searching for a practical, data-driven way to understand the physical therapy progress of his patients. With PT Genie, he developed an online solution that helps patients and providers from across the country stay connected. Earlier this summer, Dr. Gobezie officially opened the PT Genie headquarters in the GuideWell Innovation Center in Medical City.
PT Genie is prescribed by a healthcare provider to give the patient an on-demand experience so they can do therapy on their own time, following a rehab protocol designed by their doctors from a library of more than 400 exercises. The patient wears digital sensors as they follow specific exercises on a screen, and the data is saved in a cloud-based system where the patient, doctor, and physical therapist can track the progress.
“With PT Genie, we’ll begin to understand what exercises work best from patient to patient based on things like age and gender,” said Dr. Gobezie. “This evolution of data will help inform physicians and patients about the best rehab protocol for their recovery and what providers offer the best outcomes by region or hospital.”
Dr. Gobezie and his family moved to Lake Nona four years ago. He says his love for the community and watching Medical City expand inspired him to relocate his digital health company from Cleveland, Ohio, to Lake Nona.
“I love Lake Nona, and I think Tavistock is doing a great job developing the area, especially Medical City,” said. Dr. Gobezie. “We wanted to move our PT Genie headquarters to Lake Nona, where there is a lot of growth and opportunity for new businesses in the tech and biotech space. We’re excited to be part of the movement in Lake Nona to have a more meaningful impact on health and wellness.”
Growing up in Southern California with a father who was a physician, Dr. Gobezie had an opportunity to meet doctors in different disciplines, from internal medicine and cardiology to pulmonology, orthopedics, and general surgery. Dr. Gobezie “would pay attention to how they lived and worked, and the doctors in orthopedics seemed to have a lot of fun and their patients did well.”
In addition to opening the PT Genie headquarters, Dr. Gobezie is also transitioning his orthopedic practice from Cleveland to Lake Nona, where he’ll continue to offer outpatient shoulder surgery to patients from all over the country. He’s also working with a local hospital network to develop a world-class shoulder center in Orlando.
No matter the case, Dr. Gobezie is committed to helping his patients get back to normal as soon as possible. “Fundamentally, orthopedics is about restoring mechanical function to the body and relieving pain. I love orthopedics because it’s about saving quality of life,” said Dr. Gobezie.
To learn more about PT Genie and how it works, visit ptgenie.com.
