ISU Professor Meldrum discusses feet, bipedalism with Boston podiatrists

Idaho State University Professor of anatomy and anthropology Jeff Meldrum recently delivered the Annual Winter Lecture to the Podiatry Section at the historic Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass.

Massachusetts General Hospital was established in 1811, and has been the site of numerous innovations in medicine, such as the first application of ether as an anesthetic, and the first electrocardiogram.

Meldrum's lecture was the 10th in the series, and followed a litany of prominent physicians and scientists, including the late Farrish Jenkins, a Harvard professor of zoology.  Meldrum's presentation was titled: "Midfoot Flexibility, Fossil Footprints & Sasquatch Steps: New Perspectives on the Evolution of Bipedalism."

 In the lecture, Meldrum placed his evaluation of the extensive footprint evidence for sasquatch, and his modeling of the inferred adaptations of the sasquatch foot within a broader anthropological context. New records of early hominid bipedalism were compared and contrasted to the sasquatch footprints. Distinctions in the sasquatch foot anatomy were also illuminated by a case of a footprint displaying an injury or pathology similar to skewfoot, which especially piqued the podiatrist's notice.

Robert Scardina, head of the Massachusetts General Hospital's podiatry section, organized and hosted the lecture series, which was attended by podiatrists affiliated with the hospital and the community, residents and students. Scardina noted that the presentation was "truly befitting the 10^th Annual Winter Lecture."

"It was a privilege to present to colleagues who could especially appreciate the technical anatomical aspects and implications of the footprint evidence," Meldrum said.

Meldrum’s next public presentation will be as the featured presenter at Cabela's third annual Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar Feb. 15-17 in West Virginia.

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