The Amputees Experience - Part I

Episode 7: The Quest for Accessibility features a former Olympic Coach Bill Endicott, who began an operation to help the thousands of amputees in need of prosthetics in Ukraine.In this episode, you will hear about Bill's unique perspective on the field of prosthetics in the international realm and the ways he sees athletes pushing the boundaries of the human body.

Episode 6: Fabrication, New Technology, and the Future, features Will Garcia, an entrepreneur in the field, creating an accessible fabrication company after working as a prosthetic technician and assistant. Will is a master of 3D printing and has fascinating insights into the future of prosthetics. This is the Prosthetic Experience.

Episode 5: A Prosthetist’s Perspective: features a retired prosthetist, Elliot Weintrob, a former Olympian who ran a prosthetic and orthotic practice for almost 30 years in the DMV area.In this episode, you will hear about unique stories of amputees he has worked with, his perspective on the changing field, and the ways his unique experiences, in the Olympics and before, had shaped his career. This is the Prosthetic Experience.

Episode 4: A Surgeon’s Perspective: features a plastic surgeon, Dr. Matt Carty, who helped create one of the most innovative amputation methods, allowing incredible bionics to be used.In this episode, you will hear about the new technology and future of the field of prosthetics, the experience of a surgeon performing complex amputations, and finally Dr. Carty’s perspective on the changing field and where the dangers of superior-to human bionics might take us.

The Amputees experience - Part II, features an amputee; Caroline Dunn, a college student in Dublin, Ireland who was born without a leg. In this episode, you will hear about the experience of an amputee in school, social, and college settings, the ways having a prosthetic her entire life created conflict within her about what is “normal,” and finally, her own perspective on the developing field. 

An Amputee’s Experience, features an amputee: Mark Rosen, a harvard graduate and director of financial services in New York, who tragically lost his limb in his teenage years due to health complications. In this episode you will hear his story, the difficulties he faced, specifically as an athlete discovering he is going to lose his leg, his perspective on the technological advancement of the field, and lastly his experience with the phenomenon of phantom limb. 

This NPR award-winning episode dives into the boundaries of the human body and explores how, with exciting scientific developments, those boundaries may be on the brink of disappearing. I share the stories of two amputees who have had to overcome those limits but struggle with the conflicted reality of their experience, particularly given the 200-year-old approach to amputation and the shortcomings of current prosthetic technology. I then highlight the bionic revolution that is happening now and discuss the exciting Ewing technology that allows an amputee to have neurological control of a new functional limb. What does this technology make possible? And what does it mean if we can create a bionic man who can surpass all physical hurdles? This podcast examines the experience of the human body and what it will mean in the future.