â„— 8,088,320 Rhode 401 LLC
Gary G. Bedard, CO, FAAOP, is certified in orthotics, by the American Board for Certification. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and has a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in prosthetics and orthotics from the medical college. Mr. Bedard was also trained as a combat medic (91-B) and a clinical specialist (91-C) in the US Army and received his LPN and EMT civilian credentials. His military experience included extensive work in coronary and medical intensive care units at various Army medical centers. Mr. Bedard was the top student and honor soldier in his medic training company, and second in class in the clinical specialist 91-C school at Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg.
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Mr. Bedard has been involved in product development since his days as a research orthotist at the Rehabilitation Engineering Center at Children's Hospital at Stanford. He was also assistant chief of the orthotics service at the center. He has extensive experience in the athletic knee brace business from being the charter vice president of Townsend Design.
As R&D Project Manager at Becker Orthopedic, Mr. Bedard developed a number of products that are widely used in the field. The Orthotic WorkStation, Thermoclad Powder Coating System, the VacStation Thermoforming System, the VacStation BT Bench Top Thermoforming System, Compcore Thermoplastic Composites and Compcore Ankleforms all represent his product development. He holds two patents on thermoplastic composite materials. Mr. Bedard’s Clinical Thermoforming online course is widely utilized at the O&P Schools in the United States.
As a facet of his product development, Mr. Bedard has been involved with various educational programs for the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetist. He was the thermoforming instructor for the Materials Science Course in the Institutes of Professional Development and the Materials Science Workshop. He was the program coordinator, on-site coordinator and presenter for the Materials Science Continuing Education Conference in Tampa in 1997. Mr. Bedard has served as the Chairman of the Lower Limb Orthotics Society, a member of the Continuing Education Committee, and Vice Chairman on the 1998 Associate/Technician Education Task Force and Scientific Societies Council. Mr. Bedard was also founding chairman of the Fabrication Sciences Society and served two terms.
In 1999, Mr. Bedard was selected as Educator of the Year and was accepted in the second class of Fellow’s of the Academy. At the 2002 AAOP National Meeting, Mr. Bedard received the Thranhardt Research Award for his lecture on “Measuring the Rate of Polypropylene Recrystallization after Clinical Thermoforming through the use of Differential Scanning Calorimetry”. In 2003, Mr. Bedard was the co-chair of the Orthotic Technology Symposia at the national meeting of the Academy. Mr. Bedard was also an instructor in the Academy’s Advanced Training Program on Stance Control Orthoses. Mr. Bedard was a keynote speaker on stance control technology and organized and moderated a symposium on polytrauma at the Academy’s annual 2007 meeting in San Francisco. At the 2008 Academy annual meeting, Mr. Bedard organized and moderated the symposia on Tissue Interface Issues in Orthotics and Prosthetics
In 2010 Mr. Bedard organized and moderated an AAOP symposium on high performance ankle foot orthoses. In 2011 he received the Distinguished Practitioner Award at the National AAOP meeting. At the 2013, Mr. Bedard with Dr. Fan Goa, was selected for the Thranhardt series with a presentation on “Effects of materials, designs and heat treatment on SAFO mechanical properties: a preliminary study”. In 2014, Mr. Bedard organized and was a speaker at the National AAOP meeting in a session on 3-D Printing. In 2018 Mr. Bedard was the 28th recipient of the AAOP Titus-Ferguson Award for lifetime career achievement. At the 2019 AAOP national meeting, Mr. Bedard organized a session on 3D printing and served as moderator. For the past five years he has served on the board of the Orthotic and Prosthetic Research and Education Foundation and on the OPERF Education Committee. Mr. Bedard has presented over 50 peer reviewed papers in the USA and in 35 countries on six continents.
In his past position as Clinical Application Liaison for Becker Orthopedic, Mr. Bedard established an annual lecture series at all of the orthotic and prosthetic schools in the United States for twenty-five years which was covinated by the pandemic. Currently, Mr. Bedard is the managing principal of Rhode 401 LLC which is the licensing vehicle for his most recent patent. The LLC produces the ProComp® line of thermoplastic prepreg composites.