Clinical Director
R. Trigg McClellan, MD is one of a handful of orthopaedic surgeons in the U.S. to have completed fellowships in both trauma and spine surgery. He was instrumental in the development and clinical application of bone cements in fracture surgery, and has co-developed a number of orthopaedic implants (patents pending) that will greatly simplify complex surgical procedures. In 2004 McClellan joined UCSF as an orthopaedic traumatologist and spine surgeon at SFGH and received an appointment as an Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF.
Prior to his appointment at UCSF, McClellan was the Chief of the Orthopaedic Surgery Department at Nashville General Hospital, and a member of the faculty at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California with an appointment at Stanford University as a Clinical Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. While at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, McClellan served as the Director of Orthopaedic Trauma and was a consultant to the spinal cord injury unit of the Norman B. Nelson Rehabilitation Center. With a growing interest in spinal surgery, McClellan completed a spine fellowship at the prestigious Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, California.
McClellan earned both a bachelor’s degree in physics and a medical degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Following two years of general surgery residency at Vanderbilt, McClellan completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Michigan and received advanced fellowship training in orthopaedic traumatology at SFGH.
Director of Operations
Biomechanical Testing Facility
Orthopaedic Trauma Institute
Jenni Buckley was born in and grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. She received her Bachelor’s of Engineering (2001) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware. Jenni then attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she focused on computational and experimental methods in spinal biomechanics. During her years at UC Berkeley, she was awarded a Chancellor’s Opportunity Fellowship (2001-2005) as well as an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award (2004). Jenni received her Master’s in 2004 and her PhD in 2006 in Mechanical Engineering. She then went on to complete a postdoctoral appointment (2006-2007) with Dr. Jeffrey Lotz in the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
In January 2007, Drs. Buckley and Lotz launched the Industrial Research Center (IRC), which supports the clinical and basic science research needs of the Department through orthopaedic industry collaborations. Twelve month later Dr. Buckley moved to join the nascent Orthopedic Trauma Institute at the San Francisco General Hospital Campus and open the Biomechanical Testing Facility (BTF), where she currently serves as the Director of Operations. She collaborates with over 15 clinical and research faculty within and outside of the Department and manages a team of 13 engineers and students who plan and execute orthopaedic biomechanics research.
Dr. Buckley research interests are in the development and evaluation of new orthopaedic devices. She conducts biomechanical investigations of new treatments for back pain, e.g., total disc replacement and minimally invasive surgical approaches, as well as novel arthroscopic and orthopaedic trauma procedures. Dr. Buckley is also actively engaged in the development of biomechanical testing standards in order to allow for objective cross-product comparisons of orthopaedic devices. She and her research team publish frequently in both clinical and engineering journals, such as Spine, ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Journal of Neurosurgery, and Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and present their work at major national and international conferences.
Since her time as a graduate student, Dr. Buckley has been fortunate to work with and mentor over 25 undergraduate, medical, and beginning graduate students. She takes great pride in helping these individuals develop into self-sufficient researchers with strong critical thinking skills. Many of her students have continued in the field of orthopaedics and are now attending graduate or medical schools across the country. Dr. Buckley is also actively involved in women in engineering organizations, including the Graduate Women of Etcheverry, for which she is a former president. She encourages interested students from UCSF and the community at large to apply for research internships in her lab.
IRC Project Manager/Engineer
Email: ChengLC@orthosurg.ucsf.edu
Liu is originally from San Dimas, CA located in Southern California. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (Spring 2006). During senior year of college, he was an undergraduate researcher in the Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory. Under the mentoring of Jenni Buckley, PhD, he second authored one peer reviewed publication in addition to three invited presentations in the Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society. Currently, he is working in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. His working title is Project Manger in the Biomechanical Testing Facility and primarily focuses on spinal orthpaedic devices. Future ambitions include going back to school for a dual Masters of Science / Masters of Business Administration Degrees.
IRC Project Manager/Engineer
Email: eguizabalj@orthosurg.ucsf.edu
Pager: (415) 719-2070
Johnny is originally from San Francisco, CA and moved to Vacaville, CA prior to middle school. He graduated with a degree is Psychobiology from the University of California at Davis (Winter 2005) and was accepted into the UCSF School of Medicine Post-Baccalaureate Program. As a post-bac student he completed an additional two years of study in order to better position himself for medical school admission. Over this period, he joined the UCSF Biomechanical Testing Facility and primarily studies the effect of orthopaedic surgery and neurosurgery treatments on the spine and has developed a novel spinal testing apparatus. Currently, he is applying to medical school and hopes to begin his medical training in the fall of 2008.
TufagaM@orthosurg.ucsf.edu
(415) 719-6433 pager
Mike Tufaga is originally from Southern California. He studied at San Diego State University and has his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology with an emphasis in Clinical Technology and Public Health. He continued his studies at the University of California, San Francisco Post-Baccalaureate program, and is currently working as a Project Manager primarily focused on biomechanical extremities testing.
Erik McDonald grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. Currently, he is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering at U.C. Berkeley. He has held two internship positions at medical device engineering firms where he assisted in the design of several surgical devices. Erik plans to earn his Masters in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in biomechanics from U.C. Berkeley and continue to medical school to pursue orthopaedic surgery.
Bill graduated in 1999 from Stanford with a BS in mechanical engineering. He worked for 6 years in medical devices – in cardiovascular catheters, stents, and urological products. Bill is currently in Foothill College's paramedic program, and is considering medical school in the future.
Justin Scheer is a Bioengineering undergraduate student at UC Berkeley focusing on biomechanics / cell and tissue engineering. Prior to UC Berkeley, he was the head laboratory technician for the Department of Chemistry at Diablo Valley College. He is currently working on projects relating to the spine. Justin's future plans include attending medical school to pursue a career in orthopaedic surgery.
Chris Han graduated from high school in St. Louis, Missouri after moving to the US when he was four years old. He is currently a third-year bioengineering undergraduate student at UC-Berkeley with an intended emphasis in Biomechanics. Chris is currently working on testing a new spinal anesthetic injection system which may have several clinically-relevant uses. His career goal after graduating next year is to attend law school.
Chris hopes that working in the IRC will give him a good understanding of how biomechanics research in both academia and industry is done will help him in the fields of patent or corporate law.
Thuc-Quyen Nguyen grew up in San Jose, California after emigrating from Vietnam when she was four years old. She is currently a third year undergraduate at UC Berkeley majoring in bioengineering with an emphasis on biomechanics. Quyen began researching at the IRC in May 2007 studying the stress shielding capability of a minimally invasive trans-sacral spinal fusion technique. She also studied the fatigue properties of contoured CoCrMo spinal fusion rods. With a career in medicine in mind, Quyen hopes to gain valuable clinical experience through research at the IRC.
Thomas, a San Francisco native, is currently a 4th year Molecular & Cell Biology major with an emphasis in Neurobiology at UC Berkeley. He is also completing a minor in Disability Studies. He played on the men's lacrosse team at Cal, and is also a student coordinator for the university's Health Worker Program. In addition to working at the IRC, Thomas also works as a personal care attendant. Thomas has been involved with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery for over 2 years, but this is his first year working officially at the IRC. He hopes to pursue a career in hand or craniofacial surgery after he graduates from Berkeley.
George enlisted in the Navy in 1993 and trained as an electronic technician and a nuclear reactor operator. While in the Nuclear Power Program he was selected to attend an officer selection and training school where he received college preparation classes. He then applied and was accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy and majored in Aerospace Engineering. Upon graduation he was commissioned as a naval officer and began flight training as a naval pilot, ultimately flying F/A-18 Hornets. He’s currently on track for a career in medicine where his primary interests lie in the field of trauma, orthopaedic, or neurosurgery.