Academic title(s):
Associate Director, Inst. for Evaluative Medicine in Orthopaedic Surgery, M.E. Mueller Center, University of Berne
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery, McGill University
Associate Member, Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University
Director, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Div Of Orthopaedic Surgery, McGill University
Assistant Professor of Surgery, McGill University
Position(s):
Associate Investigator, RI-MUHC
“Leitender Arzt” (without clinical duties), Inselspital Bern
Research Interests:
Orthopaedic implant performance testing
Spinal implant and surgical technique design
Prototyping
Design optimization
Device verification and validation for regulatory approval
Cell culture work for testing surfaces/scaffolds
Planning and conducting animal experimentation in baboon or sheep
Biography:
Thomas Steffen, MD, PhD, MBA, completed Medical School and then trained in an Orthopaedic residency program in Bern, Switzerland (1989-92). He later assumed a full-time research career at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he co-founded the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory. The interdisciplinary research group studies disc degeneration and regeneration, minimally invasive surgical technology, biomechanical characterization of implants, the use of bone graft substitutes for spinal fusion and mechanical augmentation of osteoporotic spinal fractures. His personal expertise is in dynamically loaded organ culture models of human and bovine disc explants, animal experiments for bone substitutes for spinal fusion, as well as in 3D spinal biomechanics to assess implant mechanical performance (PhD in spinal kinematics, 1998). He also has a vested interest in translational research and successfully brought surgical technology as an academic entrepreneur from the lab to the market. He has a solid understanding of the regulatory frameworks implied to bring medical devices to market.
Degree(s):
Executive MBA program, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario
PhD program in Surgical Research (Spine Biomechanics), McGill University
MD University of Bern, Switzerland
Residency Training:
Orthopedic Surgery and Trauma, University of Bern, Switzerland
Anesthesiology, University of Bern, Switzerland
Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University of Bern, Switzerland
Austrian Society of Acupuncture and Auriculotherapy, Vienna, Austria
Fellowship Training:
Research Fellow, Orthopaedic Research Lab., McGill University, Med. Faculty
Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Experimental, Orthopedics, University of Bern
Research Fellow at Maurice E. Mueller- Institute of Biomechanics, University of Bern
Fellow at Institute of Applied Mathematics and Informatics, University of Bern
Location:
Montreal General Hospital
1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Qc, H3G 1A4
Room Ls1.409