Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute father and son orthopedists continue surgical legacy

When Jacob Cox walked into the operating room at Orlando Health — Health Central Hospital during his first week on the job as an orthopedic surgeon five years ago, he was met with a surprise.

Standing in the room, scrubbed and ready to go were his father, Kevin Cox, and grandfather, William Cox, who also are orthopedic surgeons. 

William Cox had retired not long before but received his credentials again so the three Cox men could perform surgery together to mark the third generation of Coxes to become a practicing orthopedist. 

Together, they performed surgery.

They recreated a photo from when Jacob Cox was an orderly in high school and was able to be in the operating room to watch his father and grandfather perform an arthroscopy. He recalled a nurse used a wind-up camera to take the photo.

That photo became motivation for Jacob Cox to follow in the family’s footsteps to pursue a medical degree and become an orthopedic surgeon himself, adding years to the family’s decades-long history of serving West Orange County through the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute.

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Surgical legacy

The Cox family’s legacy in Central Florida began when William Cox, Kevin’s father and Jacob’s grandfather, opened his practice in 1966 after completing the orthopedic residency program at Orlando Regional Medical Center. William Cox practiced at the old West Orange Memorial Hospital in Winter Garden and his practice served as the main orthopedic group at the hospital. 

In 1992, Kevin Cox started his practice and worked at West Orange Memorial for two years until Orlando Health — Health Central Hospital opened in 1993. He started working on Day One. 

The passion for orthopedics was passed down generations in similar fashion: the son seeing the father at work, helping others. 

Kevin Cox recalled being in high school and actually being able to scrub in for surgery, which would not be allowed today. As a practicing orthopedist, he recalled operating with one of the operating room nurses he worked with in high school.

While Jacob Cox was in high school, Health Central Hospital had a summer internship program. He participated, and the program gave him a glimpse into the life of a nurse, doctor, surgeon and more. 

Having seen his dad as a surgeon, Jacob Cox said there was a genuine interest in following in his father’s footsteps. He was able to be orderly in the operating room and developed a passion for surgery. 

Through college and medical school, Jacob Cox tried all types of medicine, but orthopedics always was calling him home. The idea of helping people and fixing their problems with his own hands to give people back their function was alluring. 

But Kevin Cox always knew orthopedics had to be something each person wanted. There had to be self-motivation, he said, so he never pushed Jacob Cox in the direction of medicine or orthopedics specifically. 

“People ask if it was brainwashing or whatnot, but no, especially in medical school when it was time to make those decisions, there was no forcing of that, ‘You will be an orthopedist,’” Jacob Cox said. “It was, ‘No, you need to make sure you really want to do this.’”

Jacob Cox felt a calling to orthopedics just like his father and grandfather. 

“I love going to work every day,” he said. “I love getting to work here with Orlando Health. It’s been great to finally put to purpose all the stuff I’ve learned and be able to help our community and West Orange. When I get my old patients that live in Winter Garden and lived here forever, I love hearing those old stories.”

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Giving back

Kevin Cox said his family has been blessed to be able to serve the community in which they live.

“Our whole family has a strong faith, and it is an incredible privilege when your job coincides with what you believe in your faith,” he said. “We have a privilege to be able to be in our community, and when people get hurt, it’s not always the best timing for them, and we get to take care of people, no matter what their financial situation is, whether they have insurance. We get to give back to our community. … It’s such a privilege to have a job that’s rewarding and able to give back to our community.”

To an experienced orthopedist, Jacob Cox said doing a joint replacement or fixing a broken bone is routine, but to the patient, it could be one of the most stressful days of the patient’s life. 

“We’re putting them back together,” he said. “We’re able to have a very profound impact on people with our skillset and so I really liked that ability. … This is fixing a person (so) we can allow them to live their life to their fullest in ways that perhaps weren’t able to be done even just a few years ago.”

The rewarding moments come when Jacob Cox is at service at First Baptist Church of Winter Garden, where he sees patients on Sunday being able to raise their hands up in praise at church short weeks after surgery after they hadn’t been able to do so for 15 years, he said. 

Kevin Cox knew the impact he could make as a surgeon when he took a trauma call at Orlando Regional Medical Center 10 years ago during his residency. A man was jogging on the side of the road and was hit by a car. The accident nearly claimed his leg. Kevin Cox said the man was filthy and “just a mess.” He learned at that moment to treat everybody the same — no matter how they look when they enter the emergency room. The man turned out to be “one of the most prominent defense attorneys in town.”

With Jacob Cox specializing in shoulders and elbows and Kevin Cox specializing in hips and knees, joining their practice with Orlando Health will allow them to have access to more resources and other qualified doctors they have known for years to assist on cases, especially if it is out of their specialties. 

“It is very nice to have the increased resources of the entire network to be able to really solve anything from an unusual tumor to trauma or something weird,” Kevin Cox said. 

Having multiple orthopedic surgeons in the family is helpful when there’s a complicated case on which either Cox needs assistance or a second opinion. There’s no issue of dealing with egos or trust.

The biggest lesson Jacob Cox has learned from his father is something he uses every day. 

“Patients do not know how good of a surgeon you are, but they know how good of a person you are, and that’s what he made his reputation on,” he said of his father.