MBiomedE (UNSW), BE (Mech) (UNSW)
Phone : 938 55414
Email : d.vickers@unsw.edu.au

Professional Objective

A long-term passion for prosthetics, their design and function and benefits to otherwise less able people has brought Deborah into the field of Biomedical Engineering. With her qualifications of BE (Mech)/MBiomedE from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) she aims to contribute to biomechanics research in the areas of rehabilitation and safety.

Employment

As Biomechanics Laboratory Manager in the Biomechanics and Gait Laboratory Deborah’s responsibilities include:

• Maintenance of our laboratory equipment including 2 Kistler force plates, 8 camera VICON612 3D motion capture system and Motion Lab EMG system.
• Data capture for gait analyses of children with cerebral palsy, as part of the NSW Paediatric Clinical Motion Analysis Service.
• Conducting laboratory classes for biomechanics and sports science students and some casual lecturing in Biomechanics.
• Writing papers for publication of research undertaken here in the lab.
• Membership of the School of Risk & Safety Sciences OHS committee, as general staff representative.

Publications

• Vickers DR, Palk C, McIntosh AS, Beatty KT. Elderly unilateral transtibial amputee gait on an inclined walkway: A biomechanical analysis. Gait & Posture 2008;27(3):518-29.
• Vickers DR, McIntosh AS, Palk C, Beatty KT. Unilateral Transtibial Amputee Gait on an Incline. Gait & Posture 2005;22S(ESMAC Abstracts):S14.
• McIntosh AS, Beatty KT, Dwan LN, Vickers DR. Gait dynamics on an inclined walkway. Journal of Biomechanics, 2006,39;13:2491-2502.

Conference Participation

• February 2007
  Presented ‘Use of the Heidelberg Foot Measurement Method in the NSW Paediatric Clinial Motion Analysis Service ’ at the 6th Biennial Australian and New Zealand Society of Biomechanics Australiasian Biomechanics Conference, in Auckland New Zealand. Winner of the New Investigator Award.
• November 2005
  Presented ‘Unilateral transtibial amputee gait on an incline’ at the 2005 Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics, Australian National Member Society, in Sydney.
• September 2005
  Presented ‘Unilateral transtibial amputee gait on an incline’ at the 14th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Movement Analysis of Adults and Children (ESMAC), in Barcelona, Spain.
• December 2004
  Active member of the Organising Committee for the 5th Australasian Biomechanics Conference (ABC5), meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Biomechanics, hosted at UNSW.

Professional Memberships

• Member of ESMAC
• Member of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO)
• Member of IEAust (Mechanical and Biomedical)\
• Member of Engineers Without Borders, UNSW Chapter.

Professional Training

• September 2007
  Attended Continuing Education in Data Interpretation prior to 16th Annual Meeting of ESMAC, Athens, Greece.
• April 2006
  Attended ‘Statistical Methods for Research Workers’ course run through the Statistics department, of the School of Mathematics.
• September 2005
  Attended the ESMAC Course on Gait Analysis in Barcelona, Spain. Lectures and workshops covered topics such as Gait analysis terminology, clinical assessment, kinematics, kinetics and data interpretation.
• November 2004
  Participated in ‘Getting Started in Clinical Research in Prosthetics and Orthotics’ course run by International Society for Prosthetists and Orthotists in Brisbane. Further developed skills in the research process and made some valuable contacts with prosthetists and orthotists interested in the benefits of research in P&O.

Personal Interests

Apart from work, Deborah is a Christian who enjoys many crafts, cooking sweets and a good chick flick.