Even though his first O&P job-shadowing experience was just in October 2010, Tony Gutierrez brought a great deal of practical knowledge to his work from day one. While he was an undergraduate studying math education in 2003, Gutierrez was also doing human motion research. As his interest in biomechanics, kinesiology, and prosthetics grew, his math advisors encouraged him to get a doctorate and study prosthetics from the academic side. It was in graduate school while researching walking motor-control strategies that he found what he calls a “true love for understanding human motion in a mechanical sense.” But Gutierrez was drawn away from academia by a visit to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), Illinois, and Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center (NUPOC), Chicago, and now his academic interests intersect with his daily practice at Orthotic Prosthetic Specialists, Munster, Indiana.
