Lee Thay-Q
Professor in Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine
Lee Thay-Q is an engineer who developed the most advanced biomechanical testing models that simulate the mechanical loading environment of various shoulder and knee activities. He also developed the principles and techniques for most of the current rotator cuff repair surgeries and validated the concept for superior capsule reconstruction.
The bone is both a structural material and a living tissue. Thus, a deep knowledge of engineering of the human musculoskeletal system can be valuable in orthopedic surgery, which often involves attaching metal rods, pins, plates and screws onto the human body. Engineers are not allowed to treat patients with damaged bones directly because they don’t have the required medical expertise, but they can use their mechanical expertise to help surgeons come up with more effective and less invasive treatment methods. So it is little wonder that orthopedic surgeons increasingly seek cooperation with engineers to broaden their medical capabilities. Today, the field of orthopedic biomechanics is getting more attention than ever before. One of the world’s best, if not the best, orthopedic bioengineering lab is at the Veterans Affairs Long Beach Healthcare System and the University of California, Irvine. Lee Thay-Q is the founder and leader of Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory, which draws both talented engineers and surgeons from different countries. “This is truly a multidisciplinary field where engineers and surgeons have to work as a team,” Lee, who is also a senior research career scientist at the Department of Veterans Affairs and a biomedical engineering professor at the university, said in an interview. “The key is to bridge the gap between the two professions.” To engineers, the human body is an unimaginably complicated machine composed of roughly 100 trillion cells of various types. The immune system, for the most part, helps prevent operational problems in the body and helps the body “fix” minor malfunctions. However, unlike most parts of the body, musculoskeletal tissues are not able to heal on their own correctly; they require accurate reconstruction of the anatomic structures and the proper environment to heal.
Even a common type of bone injury, like a fracture, could cause serious complications such as a non-union (a broken bone that fails to heal), re-fracture, bone deformity or even permanent nerve damage, if the bone is not fixed properly. While some injuries are simple, others are not, because “any part of the body can break, tear or wear down in so many different ways.” This is when engineering expertise is needed. Engineers develop surgery mechanical models, tools and measurement techniques to help surgeons better restore the structural integrity and the function of the musculoskeletal system from the tissue level to the whole body. “Engineers study the problems identified by the surgeons to improve understanding and provide a potential solution,” Lee said.
“This has to be accomplished through cooperation because whatever solution an engineer provides must be usable by the surgeon.” For a patient with a broken leg, for example, engineers and surgeons work together to find the best ways to place an intramedullary rod to fix the fracture while minimizing damage to the surrounding tissues and speed up patient recovery. In the process, they may use additional fixtures to maximize the patient’s mobility; if current fixtures are inappropriate, they may develop a new one. He opened his lab in 1988 with just one computer. The lab has since developed into the most advanced and productive one in the world. Meanwhile, he has published more than 200 manuscripts and 400 abstracts. One of the highlights of his career came in 2006, when he won the Neer Award, the most prestigious award in the field of shoulder and elbow surgery. He said the secret of his success was his courage to ask many questions to understand the viewpoint of surgeons. “Engineers shouldn’t be ashamed of knowing little about the human body. They can always ask, and that’s exactly what I did,” he said. “Sometimes it is hard for engineers and surgeons to cooperate because of their different worldviews and egos.” With proper communication and understanding, doctors and engineers can achieve amazing things together, he noted. In Korea’s fast-aging population, an increasing number of older people are expected to experience joint problems. Lee said their quality of life depends on how the field evolves. “There will be an increasing demand for improving joint preservation, effective repairs and joint reconstruction in the future to maintain patients’ independence and improve their quality of life,” he said. “The field is emerging and we have a lot of work to do.”
The son of a Korean marine
Born in 1959, Lee grew up in Seoul until he was 13 years old. His father was a Korean marine who served in the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Moving to the United States with his family was life-changing for Lee. “It was tough at the beginning. In my school, I was one of just three Asians and barely spoke English,” he said.
Sports was the best way to express himself to his peers, so Lee spent a lot of time surfing, motorcycle riding, hunting and fishing. In the classroom, he showed great interest in science, especially anything about machines. His interest naturally led him to study bioengineering at University of California, San Diego’s Revelle College. At the time, the field was new and there were few related job opportunities. He pursued a master’s degree in applied mechanics, learning about living systems and cardiovascular mechanics. “Such fields, however, didn’t draw my interest. For me, they were too imprecise and unpredictable unlike machines,” he said. In the early 1980s, he came across medical implants and became fascinated with them immediately. “Amazing pieces of engineering. That’s what I thought,” he said. The field of medical implants was unexplored as well and had few experts. But for the young engineer, it presented an opportunity. He had only passion and a computer in a small office but they were more than enough to start. Throughout his career, he has worked with many surgeons from the United States, Japan, Switzerland and Korea. Oh Joo-han, who is now one of the most renowned orthopedists in Korea and the winner of the 2013 Neer Award, is his first Korean colleague in orthopedic biomechanics. “Nine Korean surgeons have so far worked at my lab,” Lee said. “They are all either prominent or promising future leaders in orthopedic surgery and my lifetime collaborators.” He said his biggest passion now is to train young talent. “That’s because it’s so worthwhile. My students create a great impact and make the world a better place, which gives me great satisfaction. In doing the job, I also learn much from the surgeons,” he said. Lee, who is also a researcher at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, received the “Senior Research Career Scientist Award” from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010. Working for veterans has also been his passion, a mission that was inspired by his father, the war veteran who has always stood by him all along the way.