Christopher Kaeding, MD, Interim Chair
The Department of Orthopaedics has 15 full-time faculty, 65 auxiliary staff and nine adjunct faculty. Divisions in the Department include: Foot and Ankle; General Orthopaedics; Musculoskeletal Oncology; Spine; Sports Medicine; Total Joint Replacement; Trauma; Upper Extremity and Hand; and Research. Each Division is responsible for research, education and patient care related to its discipline. Each faculty member contributes by: providing high-quality patient care; instructing medical students, residents in Orthopaedics and/or Podiatry, and fellows in orthopedic subspecialties; researching orthopedic problems to identify causes, treatments and possible prevention; and providing public service in education, treatment and recovery options.
Ongoing Research Programs
- Basic science research in the Department of Orthopaedics focuses on engineering aspects of musculoskeletal conditions. The Orthopaedic BioMaterials Laboratory investigates the development and application of engineering materials to hard-tissue problems and the biomechanics of implantable fixation devices. The Ergonomics Laboratory explores the causes and prevention of spinal and industrial injuries. Both of these research thrusts are conducted in collaboration with colleagues in the colleges of Dentistry, Engineering, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
- Clinical research has expanded to include studies in sports medicine, musculoskeletal trauma and spine. With the continuing expansion of clinical faculty, both in Orthopaedics and associated departments, new avenues of research are being developed.
- Biological basic research is being conducted by Joel Mayerson, MD, of the Division of Oncology, who collaborated last year with Carl Morrison, MD, DVM, in the Department of Pathology, on genetic identification of tumor markers as a tool for predicting severity and prognosis.
- Steve Lavender, PhD, seeks to quantify and model the biomechanics of the lumbar spine during push-pull industrial tasks to better understand the etiology of low back pain and thus give insight into the preventing it.
- Alan Litsky, MD, ScD, leads a biomaterials research program that is developing and testing new materials for orthopedic, dental and veterinary applications. They are developing and quantifying a technique to determine the source of polyethylene wear debris in total joint arthroplasties.
- Joel Mayerson, MD, is a pioneer in the application of expandable total femoral implants designed to keep up with the growth of pediatric bone tumor patients.
- Christopher Kaeding, MD, is a co-investigator in the first large, multi-institutional, prospective study of the functional outcomes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
- Laura Pheiffer, MD, directs several projects quantifying the biomechanics of fracture fixation devices.
- Josue Gabriel, MD, leads a study exploring the use of dynamic analysis modeling to predict injury to spinal structures.
- Ajit Chaudhari, PhD, joined the faculty from Stanford University and is establishing a laboratory for using motion analysis techniques to analyze the causes and measure the effectiveness of treatment for sports medicine injuries
