News & Announcements
Read the latest news from the Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center (NUPOC). The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about NUPOC and our recent achievements.
03.14.2023David is an American Board Certified and Illinois Licensed Orthotist and Prosthetist. He worked in clinical practice for 25 years at the University of Iowa, Scheck and Siress and Hanger Clinic in Schaumburg, IL. His practice included a great number of pediatric patients that needed orthotic management for scoliosis, fractures, club foot, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and toe walking. He also has helped to develop a femoral fracture brace, with orthopedic surgeons, to manage pediatric femur fractures in children 0-5 years old, which replaces the need for a hip spica cast.David is a member of the international Scoliosis group, SOSORT, and has presented his research for members of SOSORT in San Francisco, CA in 2019, Katowice, Poland in 2015, Chicago in 2013 and Milan, Italy in 2012. In 2015, David was invited to speak at a Scoliosis Symposium at the University of Iowa with the lead authors of the BrAIST study – Dr.Stuart Weinstein, MD and Lori Dolan PhD. The BrAIST study is groundbreaking research that states that scoliosis bracing is effective and prevents children from needing surgery.In addition, David is an active member of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists and its Midwest Chapter and a member of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy & Developmental Medicine. David was one of the co-authors of a paper that was presented at the 2016 Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA) annual meeting regarding bracing for treating femur fractures on children ages 0-5, which was voted the best trauma paper presented at the conference. The title of the paper was Functional Bracing for Treatment of Pediatric Diaphyseal Femoral Fractures: An Alternative to Spica Casting?Welcome to NUPOC, David! We are happy to have you!- 01.04.2023Earlier this month, "The Effects of Prosthesis Mechanical Properties on Standing and Walking Balance in Unilateral Transtibial Prosthesis Users: A Literature Review" written by three of our MPO '23 students, was accepted as a Poster Presentation during the 49th Academy Annual Meeting & Scientific Symposium. The Academy is known for the high-quality research presented via posters during its Annual Meeting. We would like to congratulate Ross Kelly, Madison Nastruz, and Kristen John on this wonderful accomplishment!
12.07.2022Feinberg’s Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health hosted the 11th annual Global Health symposium on December 2, celebrating global health research, education and outreach efforts from Feinberg global health investigators, faculty, students and community partners.
10.19.2022We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Michael Cavanaugh MSHI, CPO as Director of the NUPOC Education Program!Michael joined our team about 7 years ago and is a graduate of our very own MPO program. After completing his studies at NUPOC, Michael worked in a clinical setting for another 7 years prior to joining our team.In the role as Director of Education, he will report to Chairman Dr. Elliot Roth, and he will have responsibilities for leading the faculty, the students, and the operations of all education programs of the Center.Please join us in welcoming Mr. Michael Cavanaugh to this important role as Director of Education for NUPOC!
10.12.2022Meet our newest faculty member, Dan Hasso! Prior to joining NUPOC as a faculty member, Dan completed our certificate programs in 1990 and 1992. He has had a lengthy career with a wide variety of past experiences ranging from staff CPO, clinic manager, resident mentor, and even president of the Midwest Chapter of the AAOP. We are thrilled to welcome Dan back into our classrooms as an instructor for the upper limp prosthetics course. Dan is most excited to share all of his experience with the students and is eager to help them learn as they begin their journey to becoming certified prosthetist-orthotists. Welcome, Dan!
09.21.2022Northwestern University has announced the endowment of the Ryan Family Center for Global Primary Care, focused on improving the quality of primary care throughout the world.
07.28.2022Northwestern Medicine scientists are expanding the global network of COVID-19 sequencing in regions where there is limited viral genetic information reporting.
- 07.12.2022Recently, our student society (NUPOSS) presented what it's like to learn at NUPOC to another prosthetics and orthotics program in Cambodia (Exceed Cambodia). Exceed Cambodia also shared what it's like going to school there, their lives as students, courses they are required to take and more. Students then compared and contrasted their education programs. NUPOSS is grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from individuals across the globe who share a passion for O&P, and look forward to learning more about the practice of O&P in other countries. Check out some of the pictures on our Facebook page!
06.27.2022Daniel Latyshev, a rising second-year medical student, has organized several aid efforts for Ukraine.
05.27.2022Earlier this month, some of our faculty and staff were invited to OT World, an international trade show that focuses on modern orthopedic treatment and care. Dr. Matty Major, Kristin Carnahan and Ryan Caldwell flew to Leipzig, Germany to present their symposium. You can view their presentations here: https://www.ot-world.com/congressprogram/otworld/8242
05.26.2022We would like to congratulate Bradley Moore for successfully defending his thesis project! The thesis project itself was an investigation into the effects of upper limb constraint and arm dominance on mechanisms of perturbation recovery. Within this study, Moore wanted to evaluate motor compensations for stability regulation in conditions of restricted arm swing, which was accomplished by binding the non-dominant arm of able-bodied individuals during treadmill-delivered trip perturbation walking trials. Perturbations were delivered to both the dominant and non-dominant sides of the body to identify differences in gait stability. With the successful thesis defense and completion of his study, Moore is now set to move to Houston, TX, at the end of the month where he will begin working as a Biomechanics Analyst for the Houston Astros LLC. Within this role he will be analyzing player performance and player health while working to optimize the on-field success of the team.
04.28.2022After two years, Dr. Matthew Major and colleagues have successfully finished editing their special edition journal on Soft Tissue Biomechanics in Wound Healing and Prevention. You can read the publication in its entirity, as well as their editorial commentary, here: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/17209/soft-tissue-biomechanics-in-wound-healing-and-prevention- 04.18.2022
John Brinkmann, CPO, Kierra Falbo (MPO15), and Sara Morgan, PhD announce a new publication titled Determining educational assessment criteria for patellar-tendon-bearing impressions for transtibial prosthetic sockets: a Delphi study. This study focused on establishing assessment criteria for a clinical task and is the first of its type in orthotics and prosthetics education. The study was conceived as part of Mr. Brinkmann’s Searle Fellowship and Ms. Falbo completed a preliminary literature review as part of her Capstone research project while a NUPOC MPO student.
The article has been published Online First on the Prosthetics and Orthotics International website: https://journals.lww.com/poijournal/toc/publishahead
04.14.2022Last month, Emily Mueller presented her poster at the 2022 Academy Annual Meeting & Scientific Symposium, and was entered into the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics (ABC) Student Poster Prize contest. ABC partnered with the Orthotic and Prosthetic Education and Research Foundation (OPERF) to administer the contest. The OPERF Research Committee reviewed the submissions of all contestants and has awarded prizes for first, second, and third place; $1,000, $850, and $650, respectively. We are proud to announce that Emily has been awarded first place!
"I am thrilled to have been selected as the first prize winner of the Student Poster Prize from ABC and OPERF! Being able to attend the Academy Meeting and present the results of my master's capstone project in the form of a poster was an exciting opportunity to share my research with the O&P community." -Emily Mueller, MPO 2022
Congratulations, Emily and keep up the hard work!
- 04.04.2022
Dr. Matthew Major and colleagues announce a new publication titled Comparison of Ischial Containment and Sub-Ischial Sockets Effect on Gait Biomechanics in People with Transfemoral Amputation: a randomized crossover trial. The objective of this study was to compare gait biomechanics of the Northwestern University Flexible Sub-Ischial Vacuum (NU-FlexSIV) Socket to the Ischial Containment (IC) Socket. Read the full article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35296398/