Lawrence A. Lavery, DPM, MPH, and David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, Professors of Surgery at Scott and White?s University Medical Center and Texas A&M College of Medicine, and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, respectively, have received a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
?This is, to our knowledge, the first multi-million dollar R01 series NIH grant awarded exclusively to podiatric researchers as principal investigators,? noted Dr. Lavery, the study?s principal investigator.
The study, conducted at the two universities, will evaluate methods of ?offloading? or pressure relief on healing diabetic foot ulcers, as well as compliance and health economic outcomes. Dr. Lavery noted that, ?Every study we design has clinical and economic outcomes. To improve health care, it is no longer enough to show that a device or approach works; we have to convince health plans it is financially sound as well.?
Dr. Armstrong, Director of Scholl?s Center for Lower Extremity Amputation Research (CLEAR) was equally enthusiastic: ?The study features a host of new techniques and technologies, including sophisticated activity monitoring, novel methods of healing prediction, and the now well-known ?instant contact cast? system.?
The study is slated to run from 2007 to 2012.