Staff Directory

Research Staff Directory

Richard H. Browne, Ph.D.
Director, project support services
Dr. Richard Browne is a biostatistician in the Research department at TSRHC. He received his undergraduate degree from The University of Missouri - Rolla and completed his graduate work at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Browne has worked in a variety of arenas, including The University of Texas Health Science Center (now Southwestern Medical Center), an Equal Employment Opportunity litigation consulting firm, a major oil company as a management consultant and a full-time private practice. Dr. Browne is a research assistant professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and serves on the school’s Institutional Review Board. He is a member of the American Statistical Association and is an associate member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. He serves as a referee for The American Statistician, Spine and The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Among his honors are membership in Kappa Mu Epsilon mathematics honor society, Phi Kappa Phi scholastic honor society and Who’s Who in America.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877.

Alexander M. Cherkashin, M.D.
Director, clinical implementation and data management, Center for Excellence in Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction
Dr. Alexander M. Cherkashin is the director of the division of clinical
implementation and data management in TSRHC’s Center for Excellence in
Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction. Dr. Cherkashin graduated from
Novosibirsk State Medical Academy in Russia in 1983 and began his career at the
Ilizarov Scientific Center of "Restorative Traumatology & Orthopedics"
in Kurgan, Russia. After being appointed head of the center’s
orthopedic department in 1989, his research has been dedicated to
computerized outcome studies and distraction osteogenesis-related
mistakes and complications. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Cherkashin has
been an investigator on 19 research projects related to distraction
osteogenesis, computerized patient records and outcome studies. He is
the co-author of four patents and nine certified inventions related to
osteodistraction. He has edited books and multimedia courses on CD-ROM,
written 13 book chapters, nine journal articles and numerous abstracts
related to distraction osteogenesis.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877.

Reuel Cornelia, B.S., MT, AMT
Laboratory manager, cellular pathology
Reuel Cornelia was born in Dumaguete, Philippines, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology from Silliman University, Philippines. He is a registered member of the Philippine Board of Medical Technologists, American Medical Technologists and the Texas State Society of the American Medical Technologists. He worked for five years in the Philippines as a medical technologist and histotechnologist and worked at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman, for 10 years as a histotechnologist specializing in immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy. He joined the staff of TSRHC in 2001 and has been involved in various projects for clinical and research studies.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Marina Makarov, M.D.
Director, soft tissues adaptation, Center for Excellence in Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction
Dr. Marina Makarov is the director of the laboratory of soft tissues adaptation to distraction osteogenesis in the Sarah M. and Charles E. Seay Center for Musculoskeletal Research at TSRHC. She serves as an assistant professor in the department of biomedical sciences and an adjunct member of the graduate faculty of Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr. Makarov earned her undergraduate and medical degrees in Russia. Subsequently, she received advanced training in electrophysiology at St. Petersburg CME Center and completed a neurophysiology fellowship at the Moscow Academy of Medical Sciences, Russia. Dr. Makarov is recognized for her significant contributions to electrodiagnostic methods in orthopaedics. She pioneered a technique of intraoperative monitoring of the peripheral nerve system during external fixation procedures on the extremities, which has significantly reduced the rate of neurological complications. Later, she expanded her scientific interests toward muscle injury and regeneration. Her discoveries in muscle growth and regeneration under tension stress are critical for the improvement of limb lengthening and reconstruction procedures. Author of book chapters and many journal publications, Dr. Makarov has conducted numerous research studies at both TSRHC and Baylor College of Dentistry and has lectured and taught across the United States and around the world.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Michael Orendurff
Director, movement science laboratory
Michael Orendurff is the division director of the movement science laboratory at TSRHC. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University and his Master of Science from Oregon State University. He worked previously as a clinical biomechanist in the motion analysis laboratory at the Shriners Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and was a research health scientist and director of the motion analysis laboratory at the Center of Excellence for Limb Loss Prevention and Prosthetic Engineering in Seattle. He is a founding member of the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society and has had three best-paper nominations from the society. His research interests include human movement analysis, clinical decision-making, outcomes assessment and injury prevention. His work has focused on matching technical metrics from computerized movement analysis to real-world performance on typical functional mobility tasks. He is the recipient of the Roger Mann award from the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society for best clinical paper in 2004.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Mario I. Romero-Ortega, Ph.D.
Director, regenerative neurobiology division
Dr. Romero-Ortega is the director of the regenerative neurobiology division of the Sarah M. and Charles E. Seay Center for Muskuloskeletal Research at TSRHC. He is the assistant director of research in the department of plastic surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas with adjunct faculty appointments in neurology and biomedical engineering. Dr. Romero-Ortega received his Doctorate degree in neuroscience from Tulane University in New Orleans and completed two postdoctoral fellowships at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in genetic transfer to the injured spinal cord and in developmental neurobiology. His research focuses on methods to entice and direct nerve regeneration in the nervous system. Dr. Romero-Ortega currently leads a team of researchers in developing a biosynthetic nerve implant to be used as graft for peripheral nerve gap repair. He is past associate member of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury and member of the International Association of Nanotechnology, the Tissue Engineering Society International and the Society for Neuroscience.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

David Ross
Director, bioengineering and biomechanics
David Ross joined the staff of TSRHC in 1983. He played an instrumental role in the development of the original gait analysis laboratory and did pioneering work in adapting computers for use by the physically challenged. The hospital received its first patent in 1989 for David’s work in this area. Throughout the years he has worked on numerous projects to benefit TSRHC patients, and several have evolved to become the standard of care. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Master of Fine Arts degree in design.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Carol A. Wise, Ph.D.
Director, molecular genetics
Dr. Carol Wise is director of molecular genetics at TSRHC since 2000. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Texas A&M University and a doctorate degree in biochemistry from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in human molecular genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Wise is an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and an associate member of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Wise’s research focuses on identifying genetic causes of pediatric orthopaedic disorders. Her work includes the discovery of a gene responsible for an inherited form of severe juvenile arthritis, characterization of a gene responsible for Larsen syndrome and the discovery of the first reported gene for idiopathic scoliosis. She has published more than 35 peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters and holds a patent entitled “Genetic Marker for Autoimmune Disorder.” She holds memberships in various professional societies, including the Scoliosis Research Society, the American Society of Human Genetics and the Texas Genetics Society, where she serves as 2007-2008 president.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Fan Yang, M.D., M.S.
Manager, tissue culture core facility
Dr. Yang is a molecular and cell biologist in the Research department at TSRHC. She received her graduate degree from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Yang has academic and industrial research experience in the medical and biological fields with numerous peer-reviewed publications and various presentations at international and national meetings. Upon joining the staff of TSRHC, she has helped to establish the standard tissue bank core facility, developed new protocols, standardized procedures for processing clinical surgical tissue samples and supported many research needs and projects.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877

Johnny Zhang, M.D.
Director, creative innovations, Center for Excellence in Spine Research
Dr. Hong (Johnny) Zhang is the director of creative innovations for the Sarah M. and Charles E. Seay/Martha and Pat Beard Center for Excellence in Spine Research at TSRHC. He earned his medical degree at Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Tianjin Hospital in Tianjin, China. His interests are research of spinal deformities, growth modulation for the correction of early-onset spinal deformities and thoracoscopic approaches to the spine. He has written and co-authored many peer-reviewed scientific papers in the orthopaedic field and is a member of the Orthopaedic Research Society and the Scoliosis Research Society. He serves as an assistant professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Office: (214) 559-7877 or (800) 421-1121, ext. 7877.