MICHAEL WILLIAM WHITTLE

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Dr. Mike Whittle is a medical doctor and research scientist from Great Britain. Until he retired in 2005, he held the Walter M. Cline, Jr., Chair of Excellence in Rehabilitation Technology in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He was a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, and also in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He obtained his first degree, in physiology, from the University of London, and his medical doctorate from St. George's Hospital, University of London. After obtaining full registration as a doctor, he decided to embark on a career in research and teaching, and obtained a Masters degree in biomechanics and a Ph.D. in human biology and health, both from the University of Surrey. As an exchange medical officer in the Royal Air Force, he was loaned to NASA to supervise six of the medical experiments on the skylab space program. He later joined the faculty of the University of Oxford, and carried out pioneer work on the scientific measurement of human walking. He moved to UTC in August 1989, teaching kinesiology, scientific inquiry and gait analysis in the Physical Therapy program. He founded and directed the H. Carey Hanlin Gait Analysis Laboratory, originally in the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation, but subsequently relocated to the UTC campus. In the laboratory, he assessed patients with walking disorders, and conducted research on human gait and related topics. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and two books, one of which is used as a text book for courses throughout the world, including the Kinesiology and Gait Analysis courses at UTC!

EDUCATION

Schools

1946-1949 Various elementary schools
1949-1952 Haberdashers' Preparatory School, Mill Hill, Middlesex
1952-1958 Haberdashers' Aske's Hampstead School, London

• General Certificate of Education: Ordinary Level: 8 passes; Advanced Level: 4 passes (Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany)

Universities

1958-1961 King's College, University of London

• First M.B., Second M.B.

• B.Sc. Special Physiology (Honors IIa)

• M.B., B.S. (equivalent to M.D.) (Honors in surgery)

• M.Sc. Biomechanics (Distinction)

• Ph.D. Human Biology and Health

EMPLOYMENT

1958-1965 GEC Hirst Research Centre, Wembley, Middlesex

• Vacation student, Carbon Laboratory - worked on: infra-red temperature measurement, electrical conductivity of graphite, thermal conductivity of lampblack, purification of cellulose carbon, frictional properties of cellulose carbon

• House physician, Medical Unit; House surgeon, Surgical Unit

• Senior house officer, Surgical Unit - worked on: intestinal absorption, jejunal atrophy, audio-visual aids to medical education

• Postgraduate student - worked on: tape-recording the electrocardiogram

• Junior medical officer

• Junior medical officer - worked on: prediction of pressure-breathing syncope, protection against chemical agents, oxygen supply to the brain

• Specialist in aviation physiology (on attachment from Royal Air Force)

• Worked as skylab principal investigator on: biostereometric analysis of body form

• Worked as skylab principal coordinating scientist on: mineral balance, bone mineral determination, bioassay of body fluids, body mass measuring device, small mass measuring device

• Senior specialist in aviation medicine

• Postgraduate student, University of Surrey

• Worked on: effects of spaceflight on body composition, acceptable limits for pressure-breathing, design of aircrew protective helmets

• Deputy Director (1978-1988)

• Acting Director (1988-1989)

• Consultant Clinical Physiologist (1978-1989)

• Worked on: Three-dimensional kinematic measurement, kinetics and kinematics of knee disorders, biomechanics of prostheses and orthoses, biomechanics of knee arthroplasty, clinical gait analysis, trial of walking braces for paraplegics

• Tenured professor of physical therapy

• Walter M. Cline, Jr., Chair of Excellence in Rehabilitation Technology

• Professor of orthopaedic surgery

• Director, H. Carey Hanlin Gait Analysis Laboratory