Podiatric Biomechanics Symposium

Martin Mc Geough

Martin is a podiatrist with over twenty years experience in clinical biomechanics and orthotic therapy. He qualified from the Northern Ireland School of Chiropody and Podiatry in 1989 and completed a surgical externship in Topeka, Kansas, USA.

Martin spent eleven years as an associate clinical lecturer in podiatric biomechanics at the Queen’s University and Ulster University, Belfast, 1991- 2002.

He was the senior podiatrist in the Sports Medicine Department, Musgrave Park hospital, Belfast 1998-2001. He is a past chairman of the Northern Ireland society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists.
He is a former consultant to Chelsea Football club.
He currently acts as a mentor to Headley court rehabilitation centre, UK.
He currently delivers the podiatric biomechanics component to Trinity College Dublin, Masters degree in sports medicine.

He has been a private practitioner since 1989 and continues in private practice one day per week seeing consultant medical referrals in sports medicine and orthopaedics in the Belfast Foot clinic and the Sligo Foot Clinic.

Doug Richie

Douglas Richie received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology from California State University, Long Beach in 1976. He received his Doctorate of Podiatric Medicine from the California College of Podiatric Medicine in 1980 and completed a post-graduate residency program in foot and ankle surgery at Western Medical Center in California in 1981.

Douglas Richie D.P.M. is certified in Foot and Ankle Surgery by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine.
Currently, Dr. Richie has faculty appointments at the California School of Podiatric Medicine as well as the Podiatric Medical School at Western University. He is the Chairman of the Podiatric Medical Education Committee at the California School of Podiatric Medicine.

Dr. Richie’s past accomplishments include serving as a Board member and Past President of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine for 7 years and also serving as Section Editor (Sports Medicine) for the Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery for 10 years.

Dr. Richie is a two-time winner of the original research award given by the American Podiatric Medical Association. He is a recipient of the Richard Schuster Biomechanics Award given by the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. He holds four U.S. Patents for inventions relating to footwear and ankle brace technologies.
Dr. Richie continues full time clinical practice at two locations in Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, California. His practice focuses on sports injuries, chronic ankle deformities and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery.

Christopher MacLean

Christopher MacLean is currently the Director of Biomechanics at Paris Orthotics Lab in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In academia, he received his Ph.D. in Biomechanics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he studied under Dr. Joseph Hamill. His research efforts have focused primarily on the mechanism of orthopaedic injuries and the influence of footwear interventions (custom foot orthoses and running shoe design). Chris has published in several peer reviewed journals and has presented invited lectures at many biomechanical, sport medicine and podiatric symposia.

In industry, Christopher has worked for 20 years with Paris Orthotics and is the Past President of the Prescription Foot Orthotics Laboratory Association. Chris lives in Port Moody, British Columbia with wife, Nikala, and son, Liam. He enjoys fly fishing and playing ice hockey.

Jari Pallari

Jari Pallari has been working on medical applications utilising additive manufacturing since 2003. He received his PhD from Leeds University in 2008 and an MSc from the Helsinki University of Technology in 2003, both in Mechanical Engineering.

He now works for Materialise NV in Leuven, Belgium on the applications utilising additive fabrication in the orthotics and prosthetics industry. He also acts as the Technical Manager of the A-Footprint EU FW7 project.

Jim Woodburn

Jim Woodburn is Prof. of Rehabilitation at Glasgow Caledonian University. He undertook his Podiatry training in Edinburgh and London, his MPhil degree in Huddersfield and his PhD in the Bioengineering Division of the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Research Unit in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds.

He has held two prestigious MRC Fellowships which included periods as a visiting researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and the NIH. He took up his chair in Glasgow in 2007 and leads a team of 10 researchers working in the field of applied health research. His main interests are related to the understanding of pathways leading from primary disease mechanisms such as synovitis to impairment and disability and the development and testing of novel, personalised rehabilitation therapies. He works closely with patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory joint disease employing advanced techniques in 3D gait analysis and biomechanics as well as medical imaging. He is currently coordinator of A-FOOTPRINT, A €5.2M EC FP7 project which is investigating the use of rapid manufacturing for personalised ankle-foot and foot orthoses.

Mark Gallagher

Mark qualified from the University of Huddersfield in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Podiatry. Mark worked in his role as a Clinical Specialist in Musculoskeletal and Trauma at the University Hospital Birmingham Foundation Trust (UHBFT) from 1996 up until the end of 2010.

As well as an extensive trauma caseload involving both military and civilian patients, Mark also manages a large caseload in regard to inflammatory joint disease. Mark obtained his Masters degree in 2000 from NENE University. The Masters Thesis focused on the use of local anaesthetic as a therapeutic intervention for chronic heel pain. A number of other positive outcomes came from the study and Mark has developed a number of soft tissue injection techniques to aid with tissue repair for chronic soft tissue injuries. In addition to the post at UHBFT Mark is clinical lead for Podiatry at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham. These latter service developments focus on the mechanical aspects of foot and ankle problems. Mark remains committed to research in regard to foot and ankle function and works closely with engineering colleagues looking into specific conditions and their effect on gait.

An integral part of Marks NHS and private practice commitments is education in regard to foot and ankle management. Mark is involved with the Foot & Ankle Education program as part of private practice with The Foot and Ankle Clinic in Birmingham. The clinic runs an annual education program looking at the assessment and treatment of specific foot and ankle conditions. Mark is also an external specialist lecturer for the University of Birmingham, School of Health Sciences. Mark provides Podiatric input on the lower limb quadrant module for the Masters students and also provides input on the Extended Scope of Practice Module looking at the use of clinical reasoning in the use of imaging modalities.

Hannah Yirrell

Hannah Yirrell qualified at the University of Brighton in 2004 with a first class Honours degree in Podiatry. She has a specialist interest in biomechanics and has worked in the NHS since qualifying.

She was then employed by the Ministry of Defence in 2007 to provide Musculoskeletal Podiatry clinics at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation centre, Headley Court - a Tri Service centre offering a broad range of rehabilitation through the Joint Medical Command. The rehabilitation unit offers treatment for both chronic overuse musculoskeletal injuries as well as amputee, soft tissue, neurological and orthopaedic injuries sustained within the present military conflicts.

Hannah works very closely with Consultants in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, Doctors, Physiotherapist, occupational therapists, exercise remedial instructors and RAF technicians to enable injured service personnel to return to work or civilian life. With the complex caseload seen at the Defence Rehabilitation centre Hannah has gained significant experience in utilising the Richie Brace family line of custom/bespoke ankle foot orthoses for her patients. These are issued for complex lower limb pathologies and specific emphasis is placed on prescribing these braces on the ever increasing and challenging problems resulting from conflict injuries following gun shot wounds or blast injuries from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which have primarily resulted in patients sustaining foot drop and severe foot and ankle instability issues.

Mr. Ron McCulloch

Ron McCulloch is the principal surgeon at the London Podiatry Centre. He is also a Consultant Podiatric Surgeon at London's Homerton University Hospital, the official hospital of the 2012 London Olympics.

He has held senior positions and consults for some of the UK's most esteemed medical and sporting institutions, including Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals, Arsenal Football Club, and at The Harley St/Gonstead Clinic, London. Mr. McCulloch is a published author on surgical techniques. He teaches in the NHS and consults with the leading footwear designers in the private sector.

AGENDA