In addition to her credentials as a podiatric physician and surgeon, Barbara J. Aung, D.P.M.’90, is a board-certified wound care specialist, a fellow of the American Professional Wound Care Association and a diplomat of the American Board of Podiatric Orthopedics and Primary Podiatric Medicine. She commands a deep understanding of the consequences of limb amputation, a sometimes necessary but terrible medical procedure.
For example, after a person has one amputation, he or she is likely to have another amputation in three to five years, says the founder of Aung Foot Health Clinics in Tucson, AZ. Amputation also can accelerate mortality rates of amputees.
To save patients’ limbs and thus save their lives, Aung is helping to start the first Arizona chapter of the Save a Leg, Save a Life Foundation. This nonprofit group of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, patients and others works to reduce the number of lower extremity amputations and to improve the quality of life for those with wounds and complications of diabetes and peripheral arterial disease.
Active in numerous clinical research studies related to wound care, Aung serves as a consultant to wound care centers in southern Arizona as well as to product/device companies serving the wound care industry. She recently completed a six-year term as a member of a work group, representing the American Podiatric Medical Association, of the Centers for Disease Control/National Institutes of Health National Diabetes Education Program. She also served as chair and lead trainer for the Arizona Department of Health Services Diabetes Prevention and Control Program Amputation Risk Reduction Project.
John J. Anderson, D.P.M.’99, FACFAS, was honored as Podiatrist of the Year by the New Mexico Podiatric Medical Association (NMPMA) during its annual meeting in February. He has practiced with Alamogordo/Ruidoso Orthopedics and Sports Medicine since 2002.
After graduating top of his DMU podiatric class, Anderson was accepted at Scripps-Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center in San Diego, one of the top surgical residencies in the country. He served as chief resident and lectured around the country on advanced reconstructive surgery. He then gained advanced training in reconstructive foot, ankle and leg surgery at the Sacramento, CA, Kaiser Surgery Program.
In New Mexico, Anderson has served as chief of surgery at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center and is the medical director of the Southern New Mexico Surgery Center. He is also a surgical textbook author and serves on the editorial board for medical journals as an expert in foot and ankle surgery.
