Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences – Sweden; President of the International Society of Biomechanics, ISB)
University of Iowa, Iowa City-IA - United States
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge - United States
Queen’s University, Kingston - Canada
Yale University, Connecticut - United States
Toni Arndt is a professor in biomechanics at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, where he is also Dean of research. Toni is President of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB). He has a very international background with university studies in New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Sweden. Toni’s research career has predominantly been dedicated to Achilles tendon biomechanics, foot kinematics and lower leg function, both in terms of basic and applied science.
Dr. Cesar de Cesar Netto is an Orthopaedic Surgeon specialized in Foot and Ankle surgery. He serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation. He had four Clinical Fellowships in Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Surgery: University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo-SP, Brazil (2010); University of Alabama at Birmingham – UAB, Birmingham-AL (2016-2017); Hospital for Special Surgery – HSS, New York-NY (2017-2018); and Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore-MD (2018-2019). In his research, Dr.de Cesar Netto specializes in Foot and Ankle Surgery Disorders and Imaging of the Foot and Ankle, with focus on Flatfoot Deformity, Weightbearing Computed Tomography and Achilles Tendinopathy.
PhD, PT, FACSM, FAPTA, FASB
Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Harvard Medical School
Director, Spaulding National Running Center
Dr. Irene Davis is the founding Director of the Spaulding National Running Center, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School. She received her Bachelors degree in Exercise Science from the University of Massachusetts, and in Physical Therapy from the University of Florida. She earned her Masters degree in Biomechanics from the University of Virginia, and her PhD in Biomechanics from Pennsylvania State University. She is a Professor Emeritus in Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware where she served on the faculty for over 20 years.
Dr. Davis’ research has focused on the relationship between lower extremity structure, mechanics and injury. Her interest in injury mechanics extends to the development of interventions to alter these mechanics through gait retraining. She is interested in the mechanics of barefoot running and its effect on injury rates, and is a barefoot runner herself. Along with gait analysis, her research encompasses dynamic imaging and modeling. She has received funding from the Department of Defense, Army Research Office and National Institutes of Health to support her research related to stress fractures. Dr. Davis has given nearly 300 lectures both nationally and internationally and authored over 100 publications on the topic of lower extremity mechanics during running.
Dr. Davis has been active professionally in the American Physical Therapy Association, the American Society of Biomechanics, and International Society of Biomechanics. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Society of Biomechanics, and a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association. She is a past President of the American Society of Biomechanics. She has organized and coordinated international research retreats on topics of the foot and ankle, anterior cruciate ligament injuries and patellofemoral pain syndrome. She has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, Discovery, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Parade and Time Magazine.
Michael Rainbow received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering (Biomechanics) in 2012 from Brown University, and completed a postdoctoral research position in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital – Harvard Medical School. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Queen’s University where he established the Skeletal Observation Laboratory. His research aims to understand the relationships between form, function, and dysfunction in multi-articular joint structures of the appendicular skeleton. To accomplish this, Dr. Rainbow uses a comparative approach that involves collaboration with researchers in evolutionary biology, orthopaedics, rehabilitation, computer science, exercise science, and motor control.
Madhusudhan Venkadesan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University. He completed his Bachelor of Technology at IIT Madras in India, and his Masters and Ph.D. at Cornell University in the US. He then joined Harvard University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Applied Mathematics and Human Evolutionary Biology. He studies the mechanics and control of how animals move. Problems being pursued include locomotion in animals, the geometry of joints, the topology of shape-changing skins, and the dynamics of muscle. The motivation for and application of his work include biomedical sciences, evolutionary biology, robotics, and plain curiosity about everyday observations.