PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
In terms of lower-limb orthotics, Fatone’s research centers around assessing how ankle-foot orthoses can improve function in persons with upper motor neuron lesions and how to assess quality of care when providing anklefoot orthoses. Her upper-limb orthotic research focuses on how novel orthotic devices might improve upper-limb function in persons with brain injury. Fatone is currently involved in eight research projects: three on the topic of lower-limb prosthetic sockets, three on upper-limb orthotics, and two collaborations in the areas of orthotic outcomes and shared decision making for dysvascular partial foot amputation. She also travels extensively with Scheck & Siress clinician Ryan Caldwell, CP, teaching prosthetists around the world about a new socket technique, the NU-FlexSIV socket, which was developed at NUPOC with funding from the Department of Defense.
Touting Teamwork
PHOTO: Stefania Fatone, PhD, BPO(Hons)
Fatone has been able to maintain an active and diverse research portfolio with funding from federal agencies, industry, and professional organizations—such as AOPA. “Joining the email listservs of various federal agencies and professional organizations that fund research has been the most effective way to find funding for my research,” she says. Fatone’s body of work also has benefitted from several long-standing and productive research collaborations. “Research is not possible without partners, and I have many research partners—both in terms of individual academics whom I collaborate with as well as institutional partners,” she says. For example, Fatone has worked with Allen Heinemann, PhD, at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, to study O&P outcome measures. She has collaborated with Steven Ondra, MD; Aruna Ganju, MD; and Tyler Koski, MD, in the Northwestern University Department of Neurological Surgery, in researching the role of the spine in walking. She also has studied partial foot amputation in conjunction with Michael Dillon, PhD, at La Trobe University in Australia.
Fatone (far right) takes part in Lewis Landsberg Research Day in April, a Northwestern University campus-wide event to promote faculty and trainee development through the sharing of research and conversation with colleagues. In terms of O&P entities, Fatone cites Scheck & Siress Prosthetics Inc. as an important collaborator. “Their support of my research has been multifaceted,” she explains. The O&P company assists broadly with recruitment of study participants, actively collaborates on projects, and recently donated funds to support clinically relevant research projects, says Fatone.
Role Model
Teaching the next generation of clinicians while leading significant O&P research studies enables Fatone to contribute to the development of students at the country’s oldest and largest research and training program for orthotists and prosthetists. The NUPOC facility, which is part of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, features 20,000 square feet of purposefully designed space, divided between the education and research programs. Each year, NUPOC graduates represent nearly half of all U.S. prosthetic and orthotic graduates. “The innovative ‘blended learning’ format provides a strong theoretical foundation,
combined with an intensive clinical practicum where students work directly with people who use the prosthetic and orthotic devices they have created,” Fatone explains. In addition to the MPO program, NUPOC conducts continuing professional education courses in prosthetics and orthotics for physicians and therapists as well as for prosthetists and orthotists. “Through my contributions to the MPO program at NUPOC, I am involved in teaching and mentoring students about how to find, understand, and apply research evidence in clinical practice,” Fatone explains. “When training clinicians, our focus is on ensuring that our graduates demonstrate the ability to use research findings to appropriately inform clinical practice.” Fatone’s teaching duties are primarily within the research stream of the MPO program, and she is responsible for having developed the “Research II” and “Capstone” subjects. “I was capstone coordinator from 2013 to 2017 and continue to have an ongoing role as a faculty mentor for capstone projects,” she explains. She additionally contributes to the physician and therapist continuing education O&P ALMANAC | AUGUST 2018
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