John Burger, CPO, clinical manager, Martin Bionics, will retire in June after 32 years in the O&P profession.
Burger began his career at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center before relocating to Turkey in 1994, where he set up an O&P clinic following the İzmit earthquake in 1999.
Burger returned to the United States in 2000 and earned his O&P certificate from New York University, followed by a master’s degree in rehabilitation from the University of Connecticut in 2003.
He then worked at Hanger/Newington Children’s Hospital, Connecticut, until 2004, and was a clinician at New England Orthotic and Prosthetic Systems, Connecticut, from 2006 to 2016. Burger and Gordon Childs, CPO, opened the company’s Middlebury, Connecticut, facility.
In 2016, Burger again relocated to Turkey, this time to work with Syrian refugees, many of whom experienced limb loss or lower-limb paralysis caused by ongoing conflicts.
Burger came back to the United States in 2021 and joined Martin Bionics. “During his time there, he offered support to numerous prosthetists in the community and a wide range of patients with hip disarticulations [and] transfemoral and transtibial amputations who are users of the Martin Bionics socket technology,” the company said. Burger has taken Martin Bionics socket technology to Ukraine and will continue his humanitarian efforts there.
“The need in Ukraine is so great,” he said. “When I retire, I plan to do more volunteer work in Ukraine with the nonprofit organization called LimbFit.”
“On behalf of the Martin Bionics team, our patients, and the prosthetic community, we thank John for his dedication, service, and the lives that he has changed,” the company said.
