Slocum Research and Education Foundation Board of Directors
Jenna Godfrey, MD, MSPH
President
Dr. Jenna Godfrey is a fellowship trained hand and upper extremity orthopedic surgeon who has been in private practice at Slocum Orthopedics since 2017. Following her residency in Orthopedic Surgery at The University of New Mexico School of medicine, Dr. Godfrey completed fellowships in Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Pediatric Hand Surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Hand Surgery at Integris Baptist Medical center. In addition to her medical qualifications, she holds an M.S in Public Health from Colorado School of Public Health and serves as adjunct professor at Shriners Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Godfrey’s primary research interests include improving cost effectiveness of medical care, increasing accountability of opioid prescription habits, and assessing clinical outcomes of upper extremity procedures. She serves as PI on multiple clinical research studies through the Foundation and regularly publishes and presents research in her areas of interest.
Jason Tavakolian, MD, MS
Vice President
Dr. Jason Tavakolian is a fellowship trained orthopedic hand surgeon, with training in hand and microvascular surgery. He has been in private practice at Slocum Orthopedics since 2005. Following medical school at Dartmouth, he completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at Harvard Combined Orthopedics Program and a fellowship in hand and microvascular surgery at the renowned Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore. In addition to his medical training, he holds an M.S. in Physics from the University of Colorado.
Dr. Tavakolian has served as the medical expert on the University of Oregon’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) since 2012. He is actively engaged in the Foundation’s research projects and serves as a Sub-Investigator on current industry sponsored projects.
Daniel Fitzpatrick, MD, MS
Board Member at Large
Dr. Daniel Fitzpatrick is an orthopedic trauma surgeon who has been in private practice at Slocum Orthopedics since 2002. He completed his undergraduate and medical training all in Iowa, attending medical school at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and residency in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Iowa. In addition to his medical training, he holds an M.S. in Engineering. He is affiliated with the Legacy Biomechanics Laboratory and is active in research aiming to improve fracture healing. Dr. Fitzpatrick serves as the Principal Investigator on many of the Foundation’s trauma-focused studies from both industry and academic funders.
Dr. Fitzpatrick also founded a non-profit organization called Restore Together Foundation for Care, which is centered in the Dominican Republic and aims to strengthen orthopedic care and elevate medical education in developing countries.
Brick Lantz, MD
Board Member at Large
Dr. Brick Lantz initiated the first Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Update in 1993 and served as the program chair for 31 years. He attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and his residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Lantz jointed Slocum initially in 1989 as a Sports Medicine Fellow and returned to practice in Eugene after completing a Knee & Sports Medicine Fellowship at the Australia Institute of Musculoskeletal Research in 1991. He has a clinical research portfolio including investigating total knee arthroplasty outcomes using custom cutting blocks compared to a standard approach and evaluation of primary and revision ACL outcomes. He has participated in medical missions to developing countries and leads an undergraduate pre-health club.
Holly Mar-Conte, MS
Board Member at Large
Holly Mar-Conte serves at the Lane County Child Care Sector Strategist, housed at Onward Eugene. In this role, she supports childcare providers, parents and families, and early learning stakeholders to identify promising strategies to increase access to affordable, quality childcare. Holly has over twenty-five years of experience working in local statewide early learning systems and holds a Masters in Planning, Public Policy, and Management, with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon. Her connection to the community allows her to have an instrumental viewpoint, which further shapes how Slocum interacts with Lane County.
Michael Hahn, PhD
Board Member at Large
Dr. Michael Hahn is currently the Director of the Bowerman Spots Science Clinic and Associate Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Oregon. He teaches courses in biomechanics and capstone research. Dr. Hahn’s research expertise is broadly defined by the mechanics and neuromuscular control of human locomotion. His research interests have ranged from prevention of falls to utilization of computational analysis tools.
Prior to joining the Department of Human Physiology at the University of Oregon, he spent four years as a research scientist at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle and five years as a faculty member at Montana State University in Bozeman. He received a B.S. from Colorado Mesa University in 1996, an M.S. from Iowa State University in 2000, and a PhD from the University of Oregon in 2003. He worked at the Mayo Clinic in the Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory between degrees.
Erin Owen, PhD, MPH
Board Member at Large
Dr. Erin Owen is currently the Head of Clinical Research at NOOM. Her previous role as the Executive Director of the Slocum Research & Education Foundation was focused on research and clinical trials to optimize musculoskeletal outcomes. Erin earned her MPH in Epidemiology from San Diego State University and went on to complete her doctorate in Public Health from Oregon State University. Her work provides a unique lens for identifying interventions with the potential for population health impact. She has worked throughout the entire continuum of musculoskeletal research: lab-based biomechanics, clinical trials, and analysis of large administrative data sets, and values multidisciplinary collaboration to solve complex problems.
Gabriella Lindberg, PhD
Board Member at Large
Dr. Gabriella Lindberg is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon at the Knight Campus. She completed her master’s degree in biotechnology and tissue engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweeden. Passionate about developing new generation biomaterials, she worked at a spin-off medical device company for four years before she moved to New Zealand to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Otago. She later completed a two-year post-doc and was promoted to Research Fellow in 2019 in the Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (CReaTE) group.
Her current research is focused on the design of cell-instructive hydrogels, bioinks, and bioresins that mimic the native architectural organization and biological niche of musculoskeletal tissues, capable of adapting to the constantly changing micro-environment as new tissue is forming.
Brandon Wilkinson, MD
Board Member at Large
Dr. Brandon Wilkinson is a fellowship trained orthopedic trauma surgeon, specializing in pelvis and acetabular reconstruction, periarticular fractures, upper and lower extremity trauma, and hip and knee arthroplasty. He has been in private practice at Slocum Orthopedics since 2021. Dr. Wilkinson attended medical school at the University of Utah and went on to complete a general surgery internship at Vanderbilt followed by residency in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Iowa. He completed his medical training with a fellowship in Orthopedic Trauma at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Wilkinson spent time working as a team physician for the University of Utah Rugby team and currently serves as a reviewer for the Iowa Orthopedic Journal. He is engaged as a Sub-Investigator on trauma-focused studies from both industry and academic funders.
S. Blake Dowdle, MD
Board Member at Large
Dr. S. Blake Dowdle is a fellowship trained orthopedic sports medicine surgeon, specializing in surgical treatment of the hip and knee. He has been in private practice at Slocum Orthopedics since 2020. Dr. Dowdle attended medical school at the University of Utah and returned to Utah to complete a fellowship in Sports Medicine. In between his time in Utah, he attended the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine to complete a residency in Orthopedic Surgery. While in residency, he published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and served as an editor for the Iowa Orthopedic Journal.
Dr. Dowdle has worked as the team doctor for the NBA’s Utah Jazz team and for the University of Utah’s football program. He is currently a team doctor for the University of Oregon and can be found on the field during football games.
Julie Embree, PT
Board Member at Large
Julie Embree has served as the Director of Therapy Services at Slocum Orthopedics since 2007. She works as a Physical Therapy Consultant for the University of Oregon athletic center and has been trained in REVitalize and BFR therapeutic techniques. Julie won the Louis Osternig Clinical Education Award in 2022 for her work creating a total joint program in Slocum’s surgery center. She has been engaged in research for more than ten years and has been an instrumental team member on both privately and publicly funded studies.