Innovation and Impact in Lower Extremity Health, Performance, and Mobility:

Celebrating 20 Years of CLEAR (Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research) 

Saturday, April 26, 2025

This event is being held in association with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research (CLEAR). An application has been submitted for granting attendees up to 5.5 CE for attending the event.

• Keynote from CLEAR founder David Armstrong DPM, PhD, MD Professor of Surgery and Neurological Surgery with Tenure at USC
• Additional lectures and panel discussions including current and former faculty from CLEAR and research trainees
• Primary themes include diabetes-related complications of the lower extremity, human performance optimization, and interprofessional advances in lower extremity research
• Please see the full agenda below

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour RFUMS research facilities and cap off the day with a reception featuring drinks and hors d’oeuvres (reception fee applies).

REGISTER HERE!

Preliminary Agenda

Morning

Directors' Corner: Past, Present and Future of Lower Extremity Care

8:45-9:00 Welcome

9:00-9:20 David Armstrong, DPM, PhD, MD - CLEARcasting the Next 20 Years in Limb Preservation

9:20-9:40 James Wrobel, DPM, MS - CLEARing Up the Data: What's Changed Over the Past 20 Years?

9:40-10:00 Bijan Najafi, PhD - CLEARing Up the Signal to Noise: How Engineers can Partner with Clinicians

10:00-10:20 CLEAR Directors' Panel- Armstrong, Wrobel, Wu, Rosenblatt, Connaboy - Having a CLEAR Vision: Panel of Past and Present CLEAR Directors

10:20-10:40 Coffee break/Exhibitors

Improving Diabetic Foot Disease Outcomes 

10:40-10:55 Stephanie Wu, DPM, MS - Clinical Evidence for CLEARly Using CAMPS on Non-Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers

10:55-11:10 Brian Schmidt, DPM - CLEAR and Not so CLEAR Sailing: My Research Journey from Scholl College to Present

11:10-11:25 Adam Fleischer, DPM, MPH - Deciding Between Charcot Reconstructive Surgery and Bracing Alone: Moving Towards a CLEARer Understanding

11:25-11:40 Erin Klein, DPM. MS - CLEARly Identifying Peripheral Arterial Decease and Next Steps Once Diagnosed

11:40-11:55 Ryan Crews, PhD - CLEARing the Way to Offload Diabetic Feet

11:55-12:15 Panel discussion

12:15-1:00 Lunch/Exhibitors

Afternoon

Performance Optimization

1:00-1:20 Noah Rosenblatt, PhD - Falls are a CLEAR problem in diabetes: the role of reactive balance

1:20-1:40 Christopher Connaboy, PhD - Forging a CLEAR Path Ahead: Building on a Legacy and Expanding our Horizons

1:40-2:00 Shawn Flanagan, PhD - CLEAR Links Between the Brain and Body: Corticomotor Basis of Traumatic Musculoskeletal Injury

2:00-2:10 Panel discussion

2:10-2:30 Coffee break/Exhibitors

Cross-pollination: Interprofessionalism in Lower Extremity Clinical Care and Research

2:30-2:45 Kristin Schneider, PhD - The Diabetic Foot and the Head: The CLEAR Connection between Two Anatomical Extremes

2:45-3:00 Alex Dzewaltowski, PhD - It's Painfully CLEAR: Introducing Nociceptive Biofeedback for Adaptive Motor Control

3:00-3:15 Amanda Simanek, PhD - Recognizing the CLEAR need to address social inequities in diabetes in Lake County, Illinois

3:15-3:30 Matthew Major, PhD - Advances in Prosthetics Research to CLEARly Aid Patients in Gaining a Leg Up in Functional Outcomes

3:30-3:45 David Armstrong, DPM, PhD, MD - CLEAR Components to Team Success in Limb Preservation

3:45-4:00 Panel

Optional Tours & Poster Viewing

4:00-5:00 Optional tours of gait lab, IRP, anatomy lab

5:00-6:30 Happy Hour

Thank you to our event sponsors: