By Dr. Thomas Cook, Director of Global Operations for Ponseti International Association
Theresa was born in the early 196o’s in Clinton, Iowa with a right clubfoot. When she was three weeks old, Dr Ponseti manipulated her foot and applied the first of a series of six casts. She wore a clubfoot brace until she was four years old.
In the early 1990’s, Theresa graduated from the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa and began a residency in pediatrics. As a third-year resident she spent time in the Orthopaedics department where Dr Ponseti was excited to confer with his former patient. He was pleased to see that she was symptom-free and doing fine. She remembers Dr Ponseti as “a gentle, caring, kind-hearted man.”
Theresa says nobody would know she had been born with a clubfoot. She describes herself as an “avid walker” who has had “absolutely no problems” with her feet. For more than twenty years, she has been a busy pediatrician and now refers infants with clubfoot to a nearby clinic that uses the Ponseti method.
