“FIND A WAY TO FIX IT”
Christian Schlierf joined the prosthetics & orthotics profession out of a desire to help others. After completing his training as an orthopedic professional (German Orthopädietechnikermeister), Chris put his skills to good use, helping people with disabilities in the aftermath of conflict and disasters. He gained experience in international humanitarian work, volunteering in Iran after the 2004 earthquake, and in the Balkans following the war in the former Yugoslavia. These experiences changed the course of Chris’s life – and the lives of thousands of others.
Working in these settings, Chris saw the challenges for himself: people with disabilities in urgent need of prosthetic and orthotic services, in areas where rehabilitation services were limited or non-existent. Lack of qualified Prosthetist/Orthotists. Lack of trainers to train the Prosthetist/Orthotists – leading to over-dependence on outside expertise.
Prosthetics and Orthotics is a specialized field of healthcare. Across the world, 75% of countries have no internationally accredited P&O training facilities. For the majority of P&O students, the only option to train to a professional level is to travel far from home, sometimes to a different continent. While they are studying, students can’t earn a living or support their families. In some countries travel is not possible at all, due to ongoing conflicts or border restrictions.
Chris recognized that taking students away from their homes for long periods of time was expensive and impractical. And people with disabilities who urgently need prosthetic and orthotic devices – such as landmine survivors – cannot wait for years while local rehabilitation specialists get trained.
“THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY…”
Chris turned to his mentor, Sepp Heim, for advice. Sepp was a trailblazer in the P&O world, setting up many training programs and schools in low income countries. Sepp threw the question back to Chris. “If the system doesn’t work, find a way to fix it.”
So Chris asked himself: “If the students can’t travel to the Prosthetics & Orthotics schools, can we take the training to the students?” And the idea for Human Study was born.
In 2005, Chris established Human Study in Nuremberg, Germany, with the aim of disrupting P&O education. The following year, Chris and two colleagues – Mehmed Latifagić (IT and Blended Learning expert) and Emina Hasanović (translator and administrator), designed their first pilot project. The goal: to educate 15 P&O practitioners from 5 countries in the Western Balkans, to acquire internationally recognized certification.
DISRUPTING THE MODEL
Chris, Mehmed and Emina’s innovative design meant that while the students were studying, they could remain in their home countries; continue to earn a living at the rehabilitation clinics where they worked; and immediately put their newly learnt skills into practice, prescribing and fitting limbs and braces for people with disabilities. Once they had completed their training,the graduates of this program would then pass on their skills to the next class of Prosthetist/Orthotists. A year later, the team secured funding. Human Study was up and running.
Christian continues to lead Human Study – together with Emina, Mehmed and a growing international team committed to making a positive difference in the world.
Over the last 20 years, Human Study has delivered ISPO accredited P&O training for over 600 rehabilitation professionals in 53 countries. We have trained carpenters, engineers, university graduates and students who didn’t complete high school, to become Prosthetist/Orthotists. We have taken our education programs into countries devastated by war and disasters, from Afghanistan to Bosnia, from Syria to Sierra Leone. We have dealt with closed borders, divided territories, language barriers, and a global pandemic. In Ukraine we are now, for the first time, working in a country that is currently in conflict. We have built a model where we train the trainers, and donate our educational materials, so that local Prosthetist/Orthotists can multiply our work, teaching the next generation of rehabilitation professionals.
We are making an impact, but there is so much more to be done, as wars rage around the world and more and more people need prosthetic and orthotic services.
Whatever the challenge, wherever we can help, Human Study will be there.
Our vision is a world in which everyone who needs a prosthetic or orthotic device has access to timely, affordable, high quality rehabilitation services – whichever country they live in. In the 21st century, humankind is making incredible technological advances with seemingly limitless possibilities. However, people with disabilities continue to face barriers in every aspect of life, preventing them from accessing their human rights. We believe that we must remove those barriers, and enable people with disabilities to lead independent and productive lives.
The three figures in our logo were taken from a photograph from the early days of Human Study. On the left is the late Sepp Heim, a leading figure in the Prosthetics & Orthotics field and mentor to Human Study’s founder, Chris Schlierf. In the middle was a student Prosthetist/Orthotist and on the right, Emina Schlierf, one of the co-founders of our program. Emina first joined Human Study as a translator, and is now Communications Manager.
In 2024, we updated our logo to the version you see here. In the center of our group we have placed a person with disability, who is using a prosthetic limb. This reflects the fact that prosthetics and orthotics users are at the heart of everything we do; and that many of our students are motivated to join the profession because they are P&O users themselves.
