Beth A. Kaplanek, RN, BSN, is a Pilates instructor and practitioner of Pilates for rehabilitation at The Pilates Center of Long Island in Huntington, New York. She started her career in fitness in 1998, teaching aerobics and personal training. Kaplanek served for 20 years as a registered nurse working in various capacities in emergency room care, operating room care, intensive care, drug counseling and rehabilitation, and hospice care.
After undergoing a hip replacement in 2001, Kaplanek began using Pilates as a form of low-impact exercise and strength and flexibility training. Encouraged by her physician’s positive prognosis, she began researching how the Pilates method could be modified and used by people with hip or knee conditions and replacements. Kaplanek’s research with Dr. Levine and Dr. Jaffe regarding Pilates as a form of postoperative rehabilitation has been published in the Bulletin of the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.
Kaplanek resides in Lloyd Harbor, New York, and Coconut Grove, Florida. In her free time she volunteers her time to a national non-profit organization lecturing and writing on issues related to AD/HD and parenting. She enjoys designing jewelry, hiking, exercising, and attending vintage car road rallies.
Brett R. Levine, MD, is board certified in orthopaedic surgery with a subspecialty in adult reconstruction. He is a physician and assistant professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he specializes in complex revision hip and knee reconstruction. He also serves as clinical instructor and research coordinator for residents, fellows, and medical students.
His areas of research interest include porous biomaterials, revision hip and knee techniques and technology, metal ion levels and hypersensitivity in metal–metal bearings, cementless TKA, and digital templating accuracy. He serves on editorial boards of Hospital Physician, Journal of Clinical Rehabilitative Tissue Engineering Research, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Orthopedics, Journal of Knee Surgery, ACTA Biomaterial, and the Bulletin of the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. He is a member of the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Levine also serves as chair of the Adult Reconstruction Instructional Course Subcommittee for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and is the editor for the Rush Year in Review.
Levine resides with his wife, Kari, and their two children in Elmhurst, Illinois. In his free time he enjoys reading, repairing and restoring classic automobiles, and staying physically active through exercise and sports.
William L. Jaffe, MD, is a clinical professor and the vice chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City. Jaffe is also an attending orthopaedic surgeon at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York.
Jaffe has served as editor in chief of the Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute and editor for the Mediguide to Orthopaedics. He serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Arthroplasty and Orthopaedic Section eMedicine as well as the medical advisory board for Osteonics Corporation in Alllendale, New Jersey. He is a consultant in orthopaedic surgery for the University Grants Committee of the Research Grants Council for the Hong Kong government.
Jaffe is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He holds membership in the American Orthopaedic Association, New York State Medical Society, New York County Medical Society, New York Academy of Medicine, Low Friction Arthroplasty Society, and Eastern Orthopaedic Association. In both 1992 and 1995, Jaffe was the recipient of Professor of the Year award from the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Residency Program. Jaffe was chosen as one of the 50 Most Positive Doctors in America in 1996. He resides in New York City.
