Daniel Ivankovich

Daniel Anthony Ivankovich (born November 23, 1963) is an American orthopedic surgeon, humanitarian and blues musician.

He is best known for his advocacy of the underserved in Chicago's inner city as leader of the Bone Squad, a group of medical professionals who treat the city's uninsured and underinsured. He is also the owner of the Preston Bradley Center, a historical site in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

He is also the medical director and co-founder of OnePatient Global Health Initiative, a nonprofit foundation based in Chicago with a mission "to treat patients... who have musculoskeletal health disorders, regardless of their ability to pay."

Early life and education Ivankovich was born in Zagreb, Croatia, to immigrant physician parents. His mother, Olga Ivankovich, is a primary care doctor and the clinical director of the Rush University Pain Center.

As a high school senior in 1981, Ivankovich was an All-State and All-American center for the Glenbrook South High School basketball team. During his senior year, he was invited to be a member of the Chicago Sun-Times all-area travel team. His postgraduate training in orthopedic surgery was completed at Rush University Medical Center, John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly known as Cook County Hospital), and Shriner's Hospitals for Children in Chicago. Ivankovich completed additional fellowship training in adult joint reconstruction, He also completed fellowship training in reconstructive spine and traumatology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and spinal cord rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. While there, he met Stephanie Miller, who was then the station's morning host. When Miller went to New York to work mornings at WQHT, Ivankovich partnered with her and produced the Hot 97 Morning Show with Miller and Howard Hoffman. In 2013, he and his wife Karla Ivankovich started hosting the radio show Life & Love With Karla & Dan on WVON.

Medical career

While working at Cook County Hospital and after 20 years as a doctor, Ivankovich observed patients being ignored and waiting months or even years for surgeries and had difficulty getting basic orthopedic services, while their injuries worsened. One day while treating a 48-year-old woman with knee arthritis, he realized that fixing her knees would not fix her poverty issues, and he had the idea to start a clinic that would help bring the patient "from disability to functionality." In 2009, Ivankovich and his now-wife Karla Carwile founded the Chicago-based nonprofit OnePatient Global Health Initiative, with a mission to treat patients from all over Illinois who have musculoskeletal health disorders, regardless of their ability to pay and without prejudice. The initiative has three clinics around Chicago. The full-time staffers call themselves the Bone Squad, "a consortium of surgeons, primary-care doctors, and other medical professionals who treat the city's low-income population." The name was inspired by the television show The Mod Squad (1968–73).

Ivankovich runs three OnePatient clinics in Chicago's most underserved areas. OnePatient does not turn away patients, and treats patients regardless of their ability to pay. Ivankovich performs 600 to 800 surgical procedures per year. He also spends time helping aging local blues musicians navigate the healthcare system, providing many of them and their families with free care and financial assistance.

Ivankovich also founded the Chicago Musculoskeletal Initiative, which has a goal of making healthcare for the poor population in the US a basic human right. He collaborated with Team Rubicon USA to set up mobile forward-assist surgical teams (F.A.S.T.) to treat hundreds of Haitians with severe injuries. While making rounds through the multiple tent-city medical camps, he and colleagues from Handicap International discovered nearly 50 patients with severe spinal cord injuries. Ivankovich came upon two such patients, Bazelais Suy and Josette Delisca, who managed to survive despite life-threatening injuries. With the assistance of AirMed International and MedEvac, he escorted Suy and Delisca to Chicago, where they received care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. For his work in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Ivankovich was named one of Chicago magazine's 2010 Chicagoans of the Year,

In 2010, Ivankovich was featured on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in a segment called "The American Spirit". Ivankovich and Williams partnered with Berkeley Bionics to fit Williams with electronic prostheses.

In April 2017, for his efforts in providing medical services to everyone, Ivankovich was named a "Harvey's Hero" by Steve Harvey on his Steve Harvey talk show.

Hospital work Ivankovich is an orthopedic surgeon at multiple hospitals in Chicago, including Methodist Hospital, He also supported organizing activities by a physicians' union, and criticized Cook County for spending too little on patient care and too much on administrative salaries and non-patient costs. Ivankovich filed suit against the hospital for wrongful termination and alleged that the hospital had terminated his employment due to his critical statements and union activity.

Music

Blues Ivankovich started playing classical violin as a young child, and took up the guitar in high school.

Ivankovich and his longtime musical collaborator "Killer" Ray Allison are founding members of the Chicago Blues All-Stars, and are the group's principal instrumentalists and vocalists. Ivankovich provides vocals and plays electric guitar.

In 2013, the Chicago Blues All-Stars released the album Red, Hot & Blue on Azure Music, with Ivankovich on guitar and vocals. The band also features guitarist/vocalist Allison, singer Anji Brooks, Carl Copeland on bass, Daron Walker on drums, harmonica player Scott Dirks, keyboardist Roosevelt Purifoy, Jr., and a brass section with Johnny Cotton on trombone, Kenny Anderson on trumpet and Garrick Patton on saxophone. In 2016, he was emcee of the Blues Today Music, Media & Health Summit in Chicago, an event addressing financial and medical difficulties of local blues musicians.

Ivankovich is a guitar historian who specializes in guitars made in Chicago. He has spent decades amassing a collection of Chicago-built guitars from the 1930s to the 1960s, when the city was a leader in guitar making. His collection includes guitars from all the major Chicago manufacturers, including National, Supro, Harmony, Kay and Silvertone.