Duke Foot & Ankle, GRAV-ET Lab Receive Two AOFAS Research Awards

The Duke Orthopaedic Surgery Foot & Ankle Division and GRAV-ET Lab (Global Research for Advanced Visualization and Enabling Technologies Lab) received two of three scientific research awards presented at the 2026 American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Annual Meeting in Seattle.

The team received the J. Leonard Goldner, MD, Award for Outstanding Basic Science Study for “Combined Interosseous Talocalcaneal and Spring Ligament Repair for Progressive Collapsing Foot Deformity (PCFD): A Cadaveric Study Assessing Alignment and Hindfoot Kinematics During Simulated Walking.”

Authors were Cesar de Cesar Netto, Ricardo Villar, Jeffrey W. Hoffman, Francois Lintz, Wolfram Grun, Scott J. Ellis, Jonathan T. Deland and Brett D. Steineman.

The team also received the Robert B. Anderson, MD, Award for Outstanding Sports Study for “Apparent Syndesmotic Widening Is an Unreliable Indicator of True Fibular Instability: A Cadaveric Biomechanical Study Using Six-Degrees-of-Freedom Analysis and Three-Dimensional Distance Mapping.”

Authors were Kareem Omran, Cesar de Cesar Netto, Nacime Salomao Barbachan Mansur, Kepler Carvalho, Smitha Mathew, Justin Siebler, Alexander Sawatzke, Sara Putnam and Kevin Dibbern.

The studies reflect the GRAV-ET Lab’s multidisciplinary approach to combining advanced three-dimensional visualization, quantitative imaging and biomechanics to better understand complex foot and ankle conditions and inform diagnosis, surgical planning and treatment.