Dr Gemma Whatling

Biography

Gemma is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University, specialising in biomechanics and orthopaedic engineering. She is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She graduated with a first-class honours MEng degree in Medical Engineering (2005) and PhD on the classification of knee osteoarthritis and total knee replacement recovery (2009), both from Cardiff University.

During a short postdoctoral position, she gained a Welsh Livery Guild Bursary from the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales to undertake a research visit to Dr Freglys laboratory at the University of Florida. After this, she was employed as a Cardiff Academic Fellow for the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis, establishing biomechanical aspects of a longitudinal patient-based study to define altered biomechanics and loading associated with High Tibial Osteotomy, alongside continuing studies on total knee replacement biomechanics. She worked with three-dimensional motion analysis, biomechanics, classification, musculoskeletal modelling and dynamic fluoroscopy imaging with image registration. Through early career grants, she established bi-plane fluoroscopy capabilities using two c-arms to investigate knee kinematics and explored predicting patient outcome in order to inform surgical design, in collaboration with the University of Florida.

During her Academic Fellowship she was awarded the prestigious International Travelling Fellowship in 2012 from the British Orthopaedic Research Society, where she travelled the globe to visit research teams at The Hospital for Special Surgery and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the Kolling Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University Charité Julius Wolf Institute in Berlin. She was also awarded funding from Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering Repair to undertake a research visit to Dr Ilse Jonkers Laboratory in KU Leuven, to undertake training and collaborative work on Musculoskeletal modelling for High Tibial Osteotomy patients.

After her Academic Fellowship she was invited to be a co-applicant of the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility at Cardiff and now co-manages two work packages, involving longitudinal studies of total knee replacement and high tibial osteotomy. She leads major projects within these packages of work, including the development of gait retraining for the management of degenerative joint disease.

She leads research in the area of hand and wrist biomechanics, diagnosis and therapy, with her papers referenced in the 2014 report by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand and 7th Edition of Green’s Operative Hand Surgery (2016), a gold standard surgery textbook. She collaborates with local surgeons, occupational therapists and physiotherapists within the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and they were awarded the 2020 FESSH basic research award to define 'Kinematics at the base of the normal thumb' using novel imaging methods. She is also developing novel devices for hand therapy.

She was a co-applicant on for the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility at Cardiff, contributing to the design and development of this £5M Facility and the novel techniques developed within.

Gemma’s research interests include human movement, osteoarthritis, orthopaedics, treatment planning, rehabilitation, gait retraining, monitoring patient recovery and medical device design. She works with clinicians and Industry to develop research aligned to healthcare priorities, driven by impact, innovation and clinical translation to maximise patient benefit.

Honours and awards

• 2013 Rising Star Award, Cardiff University
• 2012 International Travelling Fellowship, British Orthopaedic Research Society
• 2011 Karen Burt Memorial Award for ‘most outstanding newly Chartered woman engineer’, Women’s Engineering Society
• 2009 Travel Bursary, Welsh Livery Guild
• 2008 David Douglas Award, South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational Trust
• 2006 Mercia Award, The Worshipful Company of Engineers

Professional memberships

• Chartered Engineer (IMechE)
• Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the British Orthopaedic Research Society
• Member of the Women’s Engineering Society

Academic positions

• 2014-present: Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering, Cardiff University
• 2013-2014: Senior Research Fellow, Schools of Engineering and Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University
• 2009-2013: Cardiff Academic Fellow, Schools of Engineering and Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University
• 2009: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Engineering, Cardiff University

Speaking engagements

Invited International talks

• Talks on ‘Biomechanical Investigation and Classification of Joint Function’ at:
  • The Hospital for Special Surgery and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, 2012
  • Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, 2012
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2012
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 2012
  • University Charité, Julius Wolf Institute, Berlin, 2012
• Talk on ‘Imaging and data acquisition for orthopaedic assessment’ for MediTech meeting on Imaging and methods in biomedical engineering, Paris, 2008
• Talk on ‘Biomechanics Research in knee osteoarthritis and total knee replacement’, University of Florida, 2007

Invited UK talks

• Talk on ‘Biomechanical changes after HTO surgery’ at the British Orthopaedics Association Congress 2020 as part of the BORS session entitled ‘Mechanical and biological considerations for osteoarthritis’.
• Lecture on 'biomechanical investigation of patients with knee osteoarthritis' to the Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology MSc students, Imperial College London, 2014
• lecture on ‘applications of gait and motion analysis’ as part of a module on physiological measurement and assessment, University of Leeds, 2007
• Invited speaker at the Women’s Engineering Society Student Conference, 2014.

Invited Industry talks

• Speaker at the Hospital Innovations training afternoon on Knee Biomechanics, 2014
• Talk on ‘Knee joint biomechanical changes following High Tibial Osteotomy’ at the Ossur Academy Knee Seminar, Falmouth 2011

Committees and reviewing

Cross-University Committees:

• Management committee of the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis (2012-present)
• Research Committee of the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis (2011-present)
• Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Committee of the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis (2019-present)
• Cardiff Institute of Engineering and Repair Executive Committee (2015-2017)
• Cardiff University Athena Swan Steering Group (2014-2015)
• Cardiff Institute of Engineering and Repair research Committee (2013-2015)
• Founding member and Chair of the Cardiff Women in Science Committee (2013-2015)
• Founding member of the Early Career researchers Network, College of Physical Sciences of Engineering (2012-2015)

School of Engineering Administrative duties:

• Ethics Committee (2021-present)
• Medical Engineering Admissions Tutor (2019-present)
• Teaching Laboratory Manager within the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility (2019 – present)
• Athena Swan self-assessment team member, School of Engineering (2009-2018)
• Medical Engineering Degree Scheme Tutor (2016-2017)
• MSc Orthopaedic Engineering Course Tutor (2014-2015)

External Committees:

• Trustee of the South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational Trust 2007 (2013-present) http://swieet2007.org
• Council Member of the Women’s Engineering Society (2014 – 2016)
• Trustee of the Women’s Engineering Society (2012 – 2014)

Reviewing

• EPSRC Associate Peer Review College membership (2020 – present)
• Grant reviewing for Orthopaedic Research UK
• MSc Examiner – Salford University, Bournemouth University
• PhD Examiner - Cardiff University
• Journal Reviewer for national and international journals
• Abstract reviewer for the 32nd/33rd Annual Congress of the International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty 2019/2022, World Congress of Biomechanics 2022

Publications

We are currently unable to retrieve the list of publications. Visit our institutional repository.

Teaching

I contribute to the teaching and project supervision on the following modules:

• EN4107 - Biomechanics & Biomedical Engineering
• EN4419 - Ergonomics
• EN1048 - Engineering Applications (Medical engineering design, make and test activity)
• EN3100 - Year 3 project supervision
• EN2451 - Biomechanics 1

I also manage the teaching laboratory within the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility

Contracts

Title	Role	Sponsor	Value	Duration
Establishing User Requirements for Bespoke Home Gait Retraining	PI	HEFCW Innovation for all	£10,098	2022
ARUK Biomechanics & Bioengineering Centre	Co-I	Arthritis Research UK	£200,000	2021- 2023
Personalised virtual surgery for optimised knee arthritis treatment	Co-I	Accelerate	Academic expertise providing matched funding	2020-2021
Kinematics at the base of the normal thumb: An analysis of healthy thumbs combining bi-planar fluoroscopy, motion capture and 3D modelling	Principal Collaborator	Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand	€9907	2019 - 2022

Past Grants

Title	Role	Sponsor	Value	Duration
New hand rehabilitation device	PI	Wellcome Trust – A2E	£5,760	2022
Public and patient engagement to inform healthcare technology for hand rehabilitation	PI	EPSRC IAA	£9972	2022
Gait retraining for patients undergoing High Tibial Osteotomy Surgery	PI	EPSRC IAA	£19,983	2021-2022
Novel solution for hand rehabilitation	PI	MRC-Confidence in Concept Scheme (Biomedical Catalyst)	£49,107	2021-2022
Research Infrastructure Fund - High-density electromyography	Co-I	HEFCW	£59,140	2021
From brain to biomechanics: quantifying human dexterity	Co-I	Wellcome Trust (ISSF3)	£45,668	2019 - 2021
ARUK Biomechanics & Bioengineering Centre	Co-I	Arthritis Research UK	£420,000	2016 - 2020
Musculoskeletal Research Centre	Co-I	Welsh Government	£2,500,000 (Cardiff University match funded £2,500,000)	2015 - 2019
Arthritis Research UK Biomechanics and Bioengineering Centre	Co-I	Arthritis Research UK	£19,974	2014 - 2015
Investigation of gait and functional activities using 3D motion analysis in patients with knee osteoarthritis and in normal healthy volunteers	Co-I	GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Pte Ltd	£104,221	2014 - 2016
Upgrading the small equipment base for early career researchers in the Engineering and Physical Sciences	Co-I	EPSRC	£498,326	2012 - 2013
Development of a novel surgical planning tool for high tibial osteotomy and a used musculoskeletal model to determine the changes in internal knee loading.	PI	EPSRC	£93,927	2012 - 2013
The relationship between alignment, function and loading in total knee replacement: In-vivo analysis of a unique patient population	Co-I	Furlong Research Charitable Foundation	£29,562	2011 - 2012

Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

• Biomechanics
• Orthopaedics
• Osteoarthritis
• Surgical and rehabilitation outcome
• Surgical planning
• Movement disorders
• Rehabilitation
• Gait retraining
• Therapy medical device design

Current PGR Projects

Title	Student	Status	Degree
Quantifying the interactions and effects of joint function, pathology and pain in end-stage OA to understand why Total Knee Replacement outcomes vary	Marina De Vecchis	Current	PhD

Current supervision

Past projects

Project Title	Student	Status	Degree
Does gait retraining have the potential to slow OA development and prolong the benefits of knee realignment surgery	BOWD Jake	Passed	PhD
Development and validation of biplane fluoroscopy	WILLIAMS  David Elwyn	Graduated	PhD
Dynamic modelling of the shoulder complex	LAFTA Hassanain Ali	Graduated	PhD
Muscle strategies and mechanical loading in patients with osteoarthritis	GHAZWAN Aseel Mohammed Ali Hussein	Graduated	PhD
Classification of Biomechanical Changes in Gait Following Total Knee Replacement: An Objective, Multi-feature Analysis	BIGGS Paul Robert	Graduated	PhD
Development of novel methodologies to quantify, analyse and classifiy in-vivo knee function affected by aging, osteoarthritis and total knee replacement	WATLING Daniel	Graduated	PhD