Profiles in excellence.

Donovan J Lott, PT, MSPT, CSCS, is a PODS I recipient. Lott is currently a doctoral candidate in the Movement Science Program at Washington University in St Louis. Before returning to graduate school, he worked for Jack D Close PT, MA, FAPTA, in Las Vegas, Nev. Lott's recent accomplishments include being a speaker at the Marilyn Gossman Seminar at APTA's Combined Sections Meeting this past February. His latest work involves studying the biomechanical effects of stress application to the tissues of the body using the diabetic foot as a model. Michael J Mueller, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is his primary advisor for his doctoral studies.

Katrina S Maluf, PT, PhD, is a PODS I and PODS II recipient. This funding, as well as an institutional grant from the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), supported 9 of Maluf's publications (she was primary author for 5) on the prevention of tissue injury in patients with diabetes. An article written by Maluf and Mueller was published in Clinical Biomechanics and awarded the 2002 Novel Award for outstanding research. Maluf is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado, studying mechanisms of neuromuscular fatigue in healthy humans. Her future research will focus on these mechanisms and the prevention of overuse injuries in the workplace.

David R Sinacore, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. Sinacore is the immediate Past Chair of the Scientific Review Committee (SRC) from 2002 to December 2004. He also served as a member of the SRC from 1999 to 2004. Sinacore was the 1987 recipient of the Jack Walker Award for clinical research and the 2000 recipient of the Golden Pen Award, both from APTA. In addition, he was named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association in 2005. Sinacore's National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored research areas include diabetic foot disease and exercise-induced musculoskeletal training adaptations to reduce physical frailty.

Michael J Mueller, PT, PhD, FAPTA, received Foundation funding in 1987 to study the use of total contact casting for the treatment of patients with diabetes and neuropathic ulcers. Mueller and Sinacore worked on this project together, and the outcomes of that study led to the first published randomized controlled clinical trial on this treatment. According to the American Diabetes Association, total contact casting has become the gold standard for management of neuropathic ulcers. This funding and study also helped motivate Mueller, then a full-time clinician, to pursue a PhD. In 1991, he received a doctoral award from the Foundation to help fund his dissertation work on the gait patterns of people with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. Mueller has since obtained and directed a number of NIH-funded projects to study how mechanical factors contribute to skin breakdown and healing of the diabetic foot.

His current work questions traditional clinical guidelines, which advise patients with neuropathy to limit weight-bearing activities, and he and his colleagues are investigating methods to increase weight-bearing activity without causing skin breakdown. Mueller says, "It is my great pleasure to be the Associate Director of the Movement Science Program at Washington University and to be involved with another generation of bright and energetic investigators such as Donovan Lott and Katrina Maluf--both of whom have received support for their doctoral studies from the Foundation. The Foundation continues to have a tremendous influence in helping to train the future leaders in research related to physical therapy." Like Sinacore, Mueller served on the Foundation's SRC and as committee chair.