Florida Orthapaedic Assoicates, DeLand

DeLAND - When he was growing up, Mark Hollmann received sage advice from his most trusted sources. His parents told him “to be prompt, courteous and work hard.” And his basketball coach drilled into him that “100 percent of shots not taken do not go in.”

These days, Hollman, 53, imparts his own wisdom to students who aspire to practice medicine.

“If you go into medicine because you think it’s going to be your ticket to riches, you’re barking up the wrong tree. But if you want to actually take care of patients and improve their quality of life, do it for that reason and be true to yourself. Follow your heart.”

Sound advice, indeed, from one of central Florida’s most respected and prolific orthopedic surgeons.

Hollmann is a practicing partner at Florida Orthopaedic Associates at the Northside Medical Park in DeLand. He specializes in knee replacements, although his use of MAKOplasty Robotic Partial Knee Replacement is what sets him apart from his contemporaries in the region. According to the consumer medical website, floridahealthfinder.gov, Hollmann is the top-performing knee replacement surgeon in Central Florida, performing about 300 per year. That’s more than four times the average for area surgeons in his specialty.

“The robot is the big deal for the partial knees,” Hollmann said. “It’s the only robot of its kind in Central Florida and people come from all over. ... It allows me to place (the knees) more accurately.” Other benefits of using this surgical tool, according to the maker, is that it can be performed on an outpatient basis and results in a quicker recovery than traditional knee replacement surgery, enabling the patient to return to daily activities sooner.

The “$1 million robot,” Hollmann said, is located at Florida Hospital DeLand, across the street from his practice. The hospital’s investment “shows their commitment to high-quality, cutting-edge technology and medicine,” he said. “It demonstrates their commitment to the community at large, not only in Voluisia County, but all of central Florida. ...  They took an opportunity and a little bit of a chance and have made it work very nicely.” Hollmann pointed out that the HealthGrades rating system has recognized Florida Hospital DeLand as one of the top 10 in the state for total joint replacements.

Being at the top of his game is a standard Hollmann has imposed on himself since he was a boy. He grew up in Illinois and his first interest in medicine came at age 10 when he saw his maternal grandmother endure pancreatic cancer. Her eventual death had an impact on him, prompting him to ask “Is there something that can be done better? It sparked an interest in science and medicine in general,” he said. But it was not until he was a teenager and his family moved to Ft. Myers, that he realized “that particular type of medicine was not best suited for me.”

The oldest of four children, he earned spots on the swimming and basketball team in high school. (An aside: His sister and one of his brothers were collegiate All-American swimmers.) Hollmann excelled on the basketball court, and it was that effort that inspired him to pursue orthopedics. He broke his ankle his senior year of high school and the team physician, John Fenning, MD, not only treated his injury, but took Hollmann under his wing.

“He would let me observe him in the office and actually scrub in for surgeries. He was doing mostly hips and knees,” Hollmann recalled.

Hollmann enrolled at Edison Community College, where the 6-foot- 8-inch power forward evolved into an All-American basketball player. He transferred to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, not only to continue his education and life on the court, but because he planned to enroll in medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Health Science Center after receiving his undergraduate degree in mathematics.

After receiving his MD in 1985, Hollmann returned to Florida, completing his internship and residency in Jacksonville, and a fellowship in sports medicine and knee surgery at the Jewett Orthopedic Center in Winter Park in 1991. He joined Florida Orthopaedic Associates a month later and has been there ever since. The practice employs “about 30 people,” Hollmann said, including seven surgeons and five physician assistants.

Hollmann also operates Florida Research Associates. “The need arose because a lot of pharmaceutical companies need high-volume surgeons to give them high numbers quickly,” he explained. “They often have to go to academic hospitals (for that data). With a small company like this, they are a lot more nimble. We are very selective about the studies we do.” Hollmann said “We are doing a knee injection study (for arthritic patients) that will be a pilot for the United States.”

When he’s not in the operating room, making rounds or doing research, Hollmann combines his love of athletics and orthopedics as team physician for Stetson University, a position he has held for 20 years, as well as being a consultant for a half-dozen area high schools.

One might think that Hollmann’s professional obligations would leave time for little else, but that really isn’t not an option for the father of five children, ages 15, 14, 12, 7 and 5. He coaches basketball for the teenagers’ teams, and when he has time he “loves being out on the ocean,” taking them offshore fishing for wahoo, dolphin and snapper.

His wife of 18 years, Stacia, helps him maintain the balance he needs, Hollmann said, and they relish their lifestyle on 10 acres off the beaten path in DeLand. Their homestead hosts a menagerie of two dogs, two cats, two swans, a donkey and sheep, although “a problem with coyotes” has depleted the sheep flock, he said.

The Hollmanns are looking forward to a cruise to Alaska this summer, and they are hopeful it will be more pleasant than a trek they took to Costa Rica last year, when an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale interrupted their vacation.

“We had just laid down for the night and everything started shaking. We were on a stilt house on a hill. I grabbed the youngest one and called out to the others. ... We were 100 miles from the epicenter,” but it was still a “holy-smokes” moment,” Hollmann remembered. “We lost power and water for two days,” before the family moved to more secure quarters.

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