Georgetown Distinguished Achievement
Award in Diabetic Limb Salvage

Lawrence B. Harkless,
DPM
Georgetown
University Hospital Conference on the Team Approach
to Diabetic Limb Salvage is pleased
to present the 2008 Georgetown Distinguished
Achievement Award in Diabetic Limb Salvage to Lawrence
B. Harkless, DPM.
Dr. Harkless has been a mentor to many hundreds of podiatric
residents and interns, a pioneer in integrating podiatric
medicine into mainstream medicine, a dedicated diabetes
educator and diabetic foot researcher, and now, at the
peak of his career, has accepted the challenge of becoming
the dean of a new college of podiatric medicine in Southern
California.
“Legions of young residents and interns developed
their skills under Dr. Harkless’ tutelage, but more
than that, for many of us Dr. Harkless was instrumental
in our developing a lifelong interest in medical education,” said
John S. Steinberg, DPM, co-chairman of the Georgetown DLS
conference. “In my own case, I owe much of my passion
for education to Larry Harkless,” Dr. Steinberg said.
Dr. Steinberg was a fellow at UTHSCSA during Dr. Harkless’ tenure
and later served on the faculty there.
For more than 30 years, Dr. Harkless directed the podiatric
residency program at the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio, where he earned a national and international
reputation as a leading expert on diabetes and the diabetic
foot. He was a professor in the department of orthopaedics
and the Louis T. Bogy professor of podiatric medicine and
surgery. While at UTHSCSA, Dr. Harkless founded one of
the first symposia on the diabetic foot, Diabetic Foot
Update.
In 2007, Dr. Harkless accepted
a new challenge as Dean of Western University of Health
Sciences College of Podiatric Medicine. The new podiatry
college, along with Western University’s colleges
of dentistry and optometry, will first offer classes
in 2009. As Dr. Harkless works to hire faculty and establish
the school, his stated goal is to fully integrate podiatric
medicine in an academic health science center, earning
the respect and admiration of the other health disciplines,
with an emphasis on diabetes, the disease that Dr. Harkless
says will enable podiatry to continue to grow as a part
of the larger medical system.
Dr. Harkless in 1987 established
the Foot Care Council for the American Diabetes Association.
He has served as a member of the ADA board of directors
and has chaired the Texas Diabetes Council. Dr. Harkless
was named the ADA’s Diabetic Educator of the Year in 2001. A recipient
of the American Podiatric Medical Association’s highest
honor, the Distinguished Service Citation, he also served
as secretary-treasurer of the American College of Foot
and Ankle Surgeons.
Dr. Harkless is the author of textbooks on foot care,
including Handbook of Common Foot
Problems and Foot and
Ankle Secrets. He also has authored or co-authored numerous
peer-reviewed articles in professional journals. A graduate
of the California College of Podiatric Medicine in San
Francisco, Dr. Harkless completed his internship at UTHSCSA
and his residency in podiatric surgery at Atlanta Hospital
and Medical Center in Atlanta. Dr. Harkless and his wife
of 27 years, Gerry, have two children, a son, Lawrence,
Jr., an architect with Clark Construction in Maryland,
and daughter Erin, who works for Goldman Sachs on Wall
Street.
2007 Award Recipient: David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD |