Prof. Dr. William R. Taylor

Biography

Curriculum Vitae William Taylor was appointed to the position of Professor of Movement Biomechanics within the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at the ETH in 2012. Born in Portsmouth, England in 1972, he achieved his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, England in 1994, where he also completed his Ph.D. in 1999 using finite element analysis to analyse the bone adaptation that occurs around new designs of hip prostheses. After spending a short period of time researching at Sulzer Medica, Winterthur, Switzerland and at the Biomechanics Research Lab, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia, he moved to Germany in 2001, where he led the research group “Functional Analysis” at the Julius Wolff Institute, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Research Interest

His research aims to provide new approaches for quantifying functional outcome in patients, both pre-operatively and after therapy. Through developing medical engineering concepts for evaluating joint stability and stiffness, as well as accurate and robust techniques for assessing motion patterns, his goal is to identify musculoskeletal deficits and movement pathologies at an early time point. Using these techniques to evaluate the differences between physiology and pathology, as well as functional status after therapy, his research further aims to open perspectives for targeting therapies towards patients who would gain most benefit, and thereby complement clinical decision making. This research has led to a number of international awards and its impact has also been reflected in over 65 peer-reviewed journal contributions. He is on the board of Medical Engineering and Physics and performs the role of treasurer for the European Society of Biomechanics.