APMA News - May/June 2018 - 75

Worthy of Note
Doctors Awarded Top National Research Honors in Doha, Qatar
Talal K. Talal, MD; Bijan Najafi, PhD, MSc; and David G.
Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD, recently were honored for a
decade of interdisciplinary research collaboration dedicated
to preventing amputation in people with diabetes in concert with the Qatar Foundation. They received the highest
research recognition awarded in Qatar.
The collaborative research efforts among Hamad Medical Co (HMC), Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), and
University of Southern California (USC) were led by Drs.
Najafi (BCM), Talal (HMC), and Armstrong (USC). The research helped accelerate translation of wearable technologies and digital health to address some of the most devastating complications associated with the diabetic foot
including foot ulcers, neuropathy, and poor balance. The
team designed and validated several innovative wearable
technologies for this purpose including SmartSox, an innovative smart textile to identify risk factors associated
with diabetic foot ulcers; a game-based wearable platform
to provide personalized foot and ankle exercise to patients
with diabetes; a wearable electrical stimulation platform to
improve balance and plantar sensation; and a wearable device to manage the dosage of safe activities for patients with
plantar ulcers to speed up wound healing.
Drs. Najafi and Talal received this award on behalf of Dr.
Armstrong (who participated by video) from Her Highness
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chair of the Qatar Foundation for
Education, Science, and Community Development.

Left to right (on screen): Dr. Bijan Najafi, Dr. Talal K. Talal, and Sheikha
Moza bint Nasser during the award ceremony in Doha, Qatar.

Drs. Yu and Gillis, Legacy Circle Donors
APMA members Hsiaochun Yu, DPM, and Douglas T.
Gillis, DPM, are a married couple who have graciously listed the APMA Educational Foundation in their wills. APMA
is honored to include them in the Legacy Circle donor list.
Drs. Yu and Gillis were in private practice together for 28
years in Las Cruces, NM. Most of the time, they had separate
patients, but they performed surgery together and covered
for each other.
"We are grateful to the profession," Dr. Yu said. "It has
allowed us to retire comfortably. So, we wanted to give
back. As we know how expensive a medical education is,
we wanted to help future podiatrists."
Drs. Yu and Gillis met as classmates at the then-California College of Podiatric Medicine (CCPM). "We were in the
class of 1986. Going to CCPM had the added benefit of [al-

lowing us to find] our life partner," Dr. Yu said. "We married
on a yacht in San Francisco Bay in the spring of our senior
year with Alcatraz in the background. The joke among the
wedding guests was that we were going to spend our honeymoon there, but actually, we didn't have a honeymoon, because we were in the midst of residency interviews."
The Legacy Circle honors members who have included the APMA Educational Foundation in their estate plan.
Gifts through wills, bequests or charitable remainder trusts
are a few examples of planned giving opportunities that
can support the foundation. Interested in becoming part
of the Legacy Circle? Contact Sandra F. Arez, foundation
coordinator, at 800-ASK-APMA (800-275-2762) or sfarez@
apma.org, or see more in the special section in this issue on
page 31.

APMA News May/June 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - May/June 2018