In Memoriam

We regret to announce the passing of Dr. Carl L. Stanitski on Sunday, July 6. He was a POSNA member for 40 years. The information below was edited from a notice from the J. Henry Stuhr Funeral Home. 

After teaching Physics and English for several years, Dr. Stanitski transitioned to a career in medicine, attending Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, and earning his medical degree in 1967. He completed his internship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia in 1968, spent 2 years working for the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC, and completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1974. During his training, he also completed fellowships at the University of Southern California’s Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, and Children’s Hospital of Boston.

For the next 17 years, Dr. Stanitski practiced orthopaedic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, with a particular interest in pediatric and adolescent sports medicine, limb deformities, and spinal deformities. He served for 11 years as an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1991, he moved to Detroit, MI, where he served for 8 years as the Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. In 1999, he moved to Charleston, SC, where he practiced and researched in pediatric orthopaedic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina and served as Professor (and later, Emeritus Professor) of Orthopaedic Surgery and Pediatrics at MUSC.

His professional endeavors and volunteering for global health outreach efforts took him to more than 30 countries during his career. Most notably, he worked for 15 years with the Polish-American Children’s Hospital of Krakow in connection with Project Hope. 

While he enjoyed the many honors and accolades he received for his professional achievements, Dr. Stanitski was far more proud of the personal impact his work had on the young patients he treated and the young doctors and medical students he taught.