Vladimír Popelka

After graduation from the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, he started his medical career in 1990 as a general surgeon in the Department of Surgery of the Trnava Hospital, Slovakia. Due to his focus on trauma surgery, he joined the team in the Department of Trauma Surgery, opened there in 1992. In 1995–1997 he worked in two Departments in Germany, namely Klinikum Grosshadern and Klinikum Innenstadt in Munich, where he acquired valuable knowledge and skills in trauma and reconstructive surgery. During his stay in Germany he acquired a surgical qualification and a certificate in intensive care medicine, and had the opportunity to cooperate with prominent German surgeons. During his study visit to the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology headed by Professor P. M. Rommens, in Mainz in 2001, he gained his first experience in plate fixation of the calcaneus from the lateral approach. After he returned to Slovakia, he was the first to use plate fixation from the extended approach, which he introduced in the Department of Surgery in the Nitra Hospital, Slovakia. Since 2006, he has worked in the Department of Trauma Surgery of the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava, where he continues to introduce new techniques in calcaneus surgery. He cooperates with Professor H. Zwipp, including several study visits to his Department, and with Professor R. Sanders from the USA. He concentrates on further improvement of the technique of percutaneous reduction and internal fixation with cannulated screws in tongue-type fractures, open plate fixation using a locking plate, as well as on introduction of new implants (C-nail) in selected fracture patterns. He has published studies in prominent foreign journals and presented lectures in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. He is also involved in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.