Ron Alkalay, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, BIDMC
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Phone: 617.667.5185
Fax:     617.667.7175
Email:  ralkalay@bidmc.harvard.edu

Background
Dr. Alkalay has been associated with the laboratory since 1997. He received his Ph.D. degree from the IRC in Biomedical materials at the London University in 1997. In the course of his thesis titled ‘The Influence of Design Features in the Biomechanical Performance of a Fixator for the Lumbar Spine’, he employed both experimental and analytical techniques to fully characterize the mechanical behavior of an internal spinal fixator. Since joining the Orthopedic Biomechanics laboratory, Dr Alkalay has forged close working collaboration with clinicians from the Orthopedic and Radiology Departments at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Boston. Similarly, during this period, he formed strong collaborations with Biomedical companies including DePuy Acromed, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Cross medical and Mathys AG, as well as, academic institutions at the IRC, London University and the Institute for Biomedical Imaging at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Dr Alkalay is a Principal investigator on five Foundation and three Industrial grants and is Co-Principal investigator on three NIH SBIR stage I and II grants, one Foundation grant and one Industrial grant.

In his capacity as a member of the laboratory, Dr Alkalay has instructed four surgical residents from the Harvard Combined Orthopedic Program for their senior research projects, as well as several students from the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at Boston Universtiy. Dr Alkalay is the course instructor for the Orthopedic Biomechanics course given at the Division of engineering and sciences at Harvard University and has acted as guest lecturer for several courses at the Division of Health Sciences & Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of his collaboration with Dr Ralph Muller from the Institute for Biomedical Imaging at the ETH in Zurich, Dr Alkalay provides the biomechanics portion for the Orthopedic Bioengineering course held during the fall semester and holds the position of a guest Dozent at the ETH.

His main research focuses on the biomechanics of the spinal column, the mechano-biological processes involved in the function of the healthy spine, the effect of aging and disease on these processes and the use of spinal instrumentation and new modalities for treatment of spinal disease. As part of this program, magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging based computational models, are increasingly being explored to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the failure process of vertebral bodies and the interrelationships between the degeneration of the intervertebral disc and the change in its mechanical and physiological function.

Teaching
2001- Engineering Sciences 142/212, Orthopedic Biomechanics, Division of engineering and sciences, Harvard University. Course instructor. This course is cross-listed at the Division of Health Sciences & Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as HST course 546.DEAS course 142/212

2001- HST 595: Tutorial in medical engineering and medical physics. Presented during the Fall term. Lecture title: Orthopedic Bioengineering.HST course 595

2001 HST 20: Musculoskeletal Pathophysiology. Presented during the Fall term. Lecture title: Soft tissue Biomechanics.HST Course 020/021

Publications
1. Alkalay RN, Sharpe D, Bader DL; The effects of the Design and Configuration on the biomechanical response of an internal spinal fixator. J Engineering in Medicine, 13(2):137-146,1999.
2. Alkalay RN, Glazer PG, Schwardt J, Spencer UM,: The use of calcium sulfate bone substitute with direct electrical stimulation for the enhancement of spinal fusion: an animal model. The Spine Journal. (1):395-401, 2001.
3. Alkalay RN, Kim DH, Urry DW, Xu J, Parker TM, Glazer PG: Prevention of Postlaminectomy Epidural Fibrosis Using Bioelastic Materials. Spine. In press.
4. Alkalay RN, Sharpe D, & Bader DL: A biomechanical study of the loading of individual components of a spinal fixation system under torsional loads: effects of clamp tightening torque and configuration. J. Biomechanics. Conditionally accepted
5. Alkalay RN, Stechow Dietrich von, Hassan Serhan, Summerich Bob & Torres Katherine. The Effect of Cement Augmentation on the Structural Response of Recovered Osteopenic Vertebrae: An Anterior-Wedge Fracture Model. Spine. Conditionally accepted
6 Alkalay RN, Bader DL: The effects of screw design parameters on the performance of transpedicular screws in vertebral bone under tensile loads: A parametric study. Submitted to Clinical Biomechanics.
7. Alkalay RN, Stechow Dietrich von. Mechanical competence of osteoporotic thoracolumbar vertebrae following failure and recovery: Anterior-wedge compression fracture model. Submitted to Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
8. Joshi A, Alkalay RN, Schwardt J, Glazer PG: The use of novel calcium phosphate bone graft conferring rapid fixation for spinal fusion: an animal model. Submitted to The Spine Journal.

Thesis
Alkalay RN: The Influence of Design Features in the Biomechanical Performance of a Fixator for the Lumbar Spine. London (UK): Queen Mary and Westfield College; 1997.