04/29/2026    Lawrence Oloff, DPM

Podiatric Musings (Allen M. Jacobs DPM, H. David Gottlieb, DPM)

Podiatric Musings (Allen M. Jacobs DPM, H. David
Gottlieb, DPM)

Drs. Gottlieb and Jacobs bring up interesting
points. I think it is fair to label podiatry as a
predominantly clinical care profession with some
research. I would like to hear from others whether
they agree. Part of the problem is that it is
difficult to do “true research” outside of an
academic center as Dr. Gottlieb points out. Some
time ago I was full-time faculty at a podiatry
school. My recent job is full-time faculty in a
medical school. This environment is completely
different than the podiatry school environment. In
the Orthopaedic Department there are research
facilitators, statisticians, grant advisors, and
many others that help to facilitate research. In
addition, advancement is often based on
contributing research. The podiatry school
environment focuses on teaching and advancement
can occur without research.

As was also pointed out by Drs. Gottlieb and
Jacobs, research funded by corporations may be
fine but becomes suspect as having alternative
motives. Posters may not fill the research role of
a profession, but do offer young researchers a
first step. Do case studies fill the role?
Community doctors can contribute research but many
times side step the scrutiny and experience of an
IRB committee.

So is any of this important to advancement of the
profession? You can argue both sides of the coin.
I would vote for yes. I think any medical
discipline has this responsibility to advance the
quality and consistency of the services we
provide. Research facilitates that. I would love
to see the research rich environment that I now
practice in exist at our schools. I do not suggest
this as a criticism but a suggestion for
improvement. If our schools had research rich
environments then our community doctors and
residency programs could potentially tack on to
these research support services as well.

University medical schools also provide low level
internal funding that their residents and faculty
can apply for to get their research off the
ground. I do not know whether podiatry schools do
that and if not they should. ACFAS has two grants.
Good but is that enough? What about AACPM? What
about APMA? These organizations do provide help
the how to do research but do not do funding
sources. Maybe I am wrong? Maybe true research is
there? Maybe our focus should remain on education?
But if I am right we need to throw more resources
at this just like allopathic medical schools.

Lawrence Oloff, DPM, San Francisco, CA

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