Finding balance in foot and ankle research

Jakob Tortorelli’s passion for sports drew him to VIU’s Kinesiology program with a goal to become a physiotherapist. An opportunity to work with a researcher who focuses on foot and ankle stability has put him on the path to a rewarding career helping people stay mobile and active. 

One of the reasons Jakob chose VIU was the intimate and personal atmosphere of the university. He had previously attended a large university where he felt like just a number, with none of his teachers knowing his name. At VIU, Jakob found that within a week of starting his program, his instructors were calling him by his first name. He believes this personal touch contributed to his success in the program. 

“We’re a tight-knit community here, and I find I learn better that way,” he says.

Jakob also found flexibility in the program structure, especially in the later years.

“Some faculty are heavily focused on the psychological aspect of the field, and some concentrate on the anatomical, physiological and biomechanics side,” says Jakob. “It’s a good melting pot of faculty because after you have taken your introductory classes, you can focus on the courses that interest you, and the instructors help you do that.”

Being able to participate in capstone scholarship courses provided an opportunity for him to shadow at a professional clinic where he could direct his studies in orthotics and prosthetics, which isn’t offered at an undergraduate level.

Jakob received a Canada Summer Jobs grant in the summer of 2024 to work as student research assistant under Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar Dr. Michael Asmussen. Asmussen’s biomechanics research at VIU is focused on how the foot and ankle and its 26 bones, 33 joints and hundreds of tendons, ligaments and muscles work together to help us move. 

“I was interested in lower limb biomechanics, which is what Dr. Asmussen is working on,” says Jakob. “He invited me to talk to him to learn more and then I got to work with him.” 

Jakob also took the planning for work-integrated learning in kinesiology course, which helps students prepare resumes, cover letters and prepare for job interviews in addition to finding placement in a work-related internship position while they attend university.

“It was probably the most practical course I was ever allowed to take, and it was amazing,” says Jakob. “Alexis Beaubier goes above and beyond to help students find their desired internship placements that they would like to pursue.”

Jakob will graduate this June. Through his hard work and dedication, he is well on his way to a fulfilling career making a difference in people’s lives. He has set his sight on a career in pedorthics, which is about the management and treatment of conditions of the foot and ankle using footwear and foot orthotics to help ease and treat foot-related problems. He is conditionally accepted in the one-year graduate diploma in pedorthics at Western University in Ontario. 

Jakob is grateful for his time at VIU and the opportunities he had to grow both academically and personally. 

“It was never easy; the professors make you work for everything you get,” he says. “But teaching is a priority here, and there was never a point in time where I felt they didn’t care about me and my success. A university that is so student-focused on Vancouver Island, I think is just amazing.”