Scholar Provides Strong Footing for Podiatric Medicine Students’ Research Activities

Jill Kawalec is associate professor and division head of the Department of Research in the College of Podiatric Medicine. She provides the administrative oversight for all of the research performed through the College of Podiatric Medicine, serves as its Research Integrity Officer and leads its Institutional Review Board. Kawalec works closely with students and residents in the development of their research interests and instructs the first-year residents on the development of a research protocol and research methodologies. She is also a trained Clinical Research Associate and has represented the College of Podiatric Medicine in its many clinical projects as the consulting clinical research organization.

Kawalec’s research expertise includes orthopaedic biomaterials for joint replacement and cartilage repair and replacement. She has expanded her work into the area of wound healing and the diabetic foot, most recently in research projects including nonvisual foot inspection for people with diabetes and visual impairment (funded by the International Diabetes Federation and the National Institutes of Health) and a prospective, randomized blinded multicenter, parallel study comparing transdermal, continuous oxygen delivery to moist wound therapy in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

She has authored several book chapters and has published works in several peer-reviewed journals, including BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery, The Foot and Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.

Kawalec earned a B.S. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

About Kent State’s Scholar of the Month
Kent State’s Scholar of the Month recognizes faculty researchers and scholars whose recent work has had an important impact on their professional fields and has brought exposure and notoriety to the university. Each month, a different college will have the opportunity to nominate a researcher/scholar for this recognition. There is also a month when a Regional Campuses faculty member will be featured.

The selection process is in the hands of the dean and his or her colleagues and faculty. Hence, this is recognition by the person’s college colleagues that is then taken up by the university. The deans communicate the person’s name to the Division of Research and Sponsored Programs for recognition as Scholar of the Month.