w w w . s h o p h e r b a . s k
Vladimír Popelka MD, PhD
After graduation from the Faculty of Medicine of Charles
University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, he started his me-
dical career in 1990 as a general surgeon in the Department
of Surgery of the Trnava Hospital, Slovakia. Due to his focus
on trauma surgery, he joined the team in the Department of
Trauma Surgery, opened there in 1992. In 1995-1997 he worked
in two Departments in Germany, namely Klinikum Grosshadern
and Klinikum Innenstadt in Munich, where he acquired valu-
able knowledge and skills in trauma and reconstructive surgery.
During his stay in Germany he acquired a surgical qualification
and a certificate in intensive care medicine, and had the oppor-
tunity to cooperate with prominent German surgeons. During
his study visit to the Department of Orthopedics and Trauma-
tology headed by Professor P.M. Rommens, in Mainz in 2001,
he gained his first experience in plate fixation of the calcaneus
from the lateral approach. After he returned to Slovakia, he was
the first to use plate fixation from the extended approach, which
he introduced in the Department of Surgery in the Nitra Hospi-
tal, Slovakia. Since 2006, he has worked in the Department of
Trauma Surgery of the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava,
where he continues to introduce new techniques in calcaneus
surgery. He cooperates with Professor H. Zwipp, including seve-
ral study visits to his Department, and with Professor R. Sanders
from the USA. He concentrates on further improvement of the
technique of percutaneous reduction and internal fixation with
cannulated screws in tongue-type fractures, open plate fixation
using a locking plate, as well as on introduction of new implants
(C-nail) in selected fracture patterns.
He has published studies in prominent foreign journals and
presented lectures in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and
Slovenia. He is also involved in undergraduate and postgradua-
te medical education.
