THE DIABETIC FOOT- Dr. Michael Marcus

 

Written by: Norah McDonnell, ENG '22

 

 

Dr. Michael J. Marcus, ’75 recently published his book entitled The Diabetic Foot: Preventing Loss and Amputation, A Pictorial Approach. Podiatry as a field changes every day, and the students at TUSPM are learning the building blocks to their futures. Dr. Marcus remembers his time fondly at TUSPM and wants to contribute to the field not only through his practice, but through his book as well. In the past, podiatrists knew about diabetes and had some cases, but podiatry did not play much of a role in diabetes. Over the past 20 years, diabetic patients have grown exponentially, and the amputation rate is increasing. There are even more Diabetic Foot cases with the COVID-19 pandemic as patients are not seen as quickly. Dr. Marcus, through years of practice, had found that patients often would come to him initially, and his practice would lose them due to insurance, or the patient would not remember the information from the visit, and often times when returning the patient would have a more severe case, leading to amputation. Dr. Marcus wrote this book primarily for diabetic patients so that they would have a solid resource for their condition.

 

The Diabetic Foot is a filled with non-grotesque images and pictures of conditions to inform the patient. The book is 100 pages long, and each page is written in both English and Spanish so that a greater audience can be reached. The goal of this book is to be an all-inclusive resource for diabetic patients so as to reduce the severity of the cases.

 

One of Dr. Marcus’ patients, after an amputation, said: “If I had read the book, I truly would not be in this position.”

 

Dr. Marcus started writing this book 4 years ago in 2017. He called upon his knowledge from working in podiatry and also used research from the CDC as resources. He worked with an from the East Coast. They coordinated for 18 months about diabetic foot conditions, and the artist drew tasteful pictures. Dr. Marcus then showed the pictures to his patients to check for understanding. Dr. Marcus also had help from Dr. David Armstrong, who wrote the forward for his book. The artist Sydney Felson helped Dr. Marcus as well by achieving authorization from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation to use an image on the front cover. The back cover is a picture of a hopeful little girl, and this painting was designed by the artist Shephard Ferry, who created the original President Barack Obama poster featuring the word “Hope.” Dr. Marcus enjoys the arts in his free time and is involved in the artist community in California, so it was important to him to combine podiatry and art in his book for the patients. Dr. Marcus also had other contributors on his team, such as an editor, a translator, and a formatter to organize the book.

 

Dr. Marcus would like for patients to read and understand the book, and also for practicing podiatrists to have the book on-hand in their offices to show the patients examples of conditions and to assist in understanding.

 

If you are interested in purchasing the book, please follow this link on Amazon

Or contact the TUSPM Development & Alumni Relations Office by email at tuspmalumni@gmail.com, or call Assistant Dean of Development & Alumni Relations Joe Leso at 215-777-5810 or Development Associate Mary Kate Rauchut at 215-777-5749.

 

Dr. Marcus has agreed to donate to TUSPM for every book sold through his Amazon page or through the School. We want to thank Dr. Marcus for his continuing support to the School and for his contributions to Podiatry. 

 

We would like to congratulate Dr. Marcus for this achievement and wish him the best successes with his book.