Description
Medical approach
As a surgeon, researcher and educator, Dr. Assal is an advocate for evidence-based medicine. This approach compares clinical experience with the most convincing external data to provide each patient with an optimal outcome. His work is driven by the latest technical developments and outcomes that can be achieved, in his specialty field. Dr. Mathieu Assal also places great emphasis on the transmission of knowledge to young doctors and researchers and to his team through numerous continuing education courses and workshops.
Area of expertize
Dr. Assal has a broad range of skills encompassing all types of trauma and injuries to the foot, ankle and lower leg; treatment of deformities, fracture fixation, ankle joint replacement (arthroplasty/prosthesis), and tendon repair, etc. His expertize also includes infections and complications affecting the lower limbs, notably due to diabetes.
Career path
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Geneva in 1994, Mathieu Assal decided to focus on lower limb surgery. He completed his specialization in orthopaedics and traumatology in Geneva and obtained SMA certification in Orthopaedic Surgery in 1999. In 2000, his career led him to the United States for two years, where he carried out research on foot and ankle trauma under a Research and Clinical Fellowship at one of America’s leading institutions, the Sigvard T. Hansen Foot & Ankle Institute, at the Harborview Medical Center of the University of Washington in Seattle. Between 2002 and 2012, Mathieu Assal directed the Foot and Ankle Surgery Unit and the Orthopaedic Infections Unit of the Geneva University Hospitals. During this time, he was named Deputy Clinical Director (Associate Professor) and was awarded the distinguished academic title of “Privat-Docent” (PD). In 2012, he was named President of the Swiss Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, a position that he held until 2016.
Surgical innovations
Achillon : minimally invasive suturing system for the Achilles tendon
Makan : femoral prosthesis for transfemoral amputation cases
PCL-Press : device to measure posterior instability following posterior cruciate ligament tears
Hypralax : device to measure instability of the foot’s medial column.
Publications
113 articles
35 book chapters
1 book - "Atlas of surgical approaches to Pilon fractures"
127 scientific posters
300 conferences
