Achilles Foot Health Centre
Suite 102 - 10190 152A Street
Surrey, BC Canada V3R 1J7
To Schedule An Appointment
Call 604.589.5234
ABOUT DR. SCHUMACHER
Dr. Schumacher is the founder and director of the Achilles Foot Health Centre, the largest podiatric medical facility in the province. Our office is located in Suite 102 at 10190 - 152A Street in the Guildford portion of north Surrey, BC. We've served the Guildford area of Surrey, BC since 1991.
Dr. Schumacher is on staff at Vancouver General Hospital, and was involved as an instructor with the podiatric surgical residency program for over 25 years. From 2013 through 2019 Dr. Schumacher has served as podiatric surgeon in the department of nephrology at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, specializing in complex neuropathic wounds in dialysis patients.
Board Certifications
Dr. Schumacher is double board certified, certified by both major boards his profession. He is Board Certified Diplomate in Foot Surgery by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (DABFAS).
He is also a Board Certified Founder and Emeritus Diplomate with the American Board of Podiatric Medicine (DABPM).
He is the only podiatric surgeon in British Columbia
holding both certifications.
In addition, Dr. Schumacher has other specialized
certifications and medical affiliations.
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Dr. Schumacher was certified by the
International Society of Medical Shockwave
Treatment (ISMST) in 2013. This
examination was carried out in Vienna,
Austria. The ISMST is the pre-eminent
society in education on shockwave and
mechanotransductive medicine. He is the
only individual who has been so certified
in the province.
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Dr. Schumacher is a Physician Certified
in Wound Healing by the CMET (Council
on Medical Education and Testing). This
certification is available for physicians
in the discipline of wounds and ulcers
and was conducted in Philadelphia.
Dr. Schumacher is the only doctor in
the province with this certification.
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Dr. Schumacher is a Certified Fellow
with the Academy of Physicians in
Wound Healing (FAPWHc).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Fellow and Founding
Member of the American Society of
Podiatric Surgeons (FASPS).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Fellow with the
American College of Foot and Ankle
Surgeons (FACFAS).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Fellow with the
American College of Podiatric Medicine
(FACPM).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of the
International Association of Diabetic
Foot Surgeons (IADFS).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of the
European Wound Management
Association (EWMA).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of
Wounds Canada.
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He is on the Editorial Board of the medical journal, Limb Preservation in Canada.
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of the Canadian Podiatric Medical Association (CPMA).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC).
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Dr. Schumacher is a Member and Past President of the British Columbia Podiatric Medical Association (BCPMA).
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Dr. Schumacher is also the founder and director of the Canadian Medical Alliance for the Preservation of the Lower Extremity (MAPLE). This is www.CanadianMAPLE.org, a national educational society to promote knowledge on treating wounds of the Lower Extremity.
What is Dr. Schumacher's background?
Dr. Schumacher was born in the hospital at the University of Chicago--the same campus in which his parents met and married, and the same campus in which he later trained.
He grew up mostly in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attending the high school the TV show "Happy Days" was based on. Its most famous attendee is Oprah Winfrey, but other alumni include the developer of Microsoft's first product, the computer ZIP format, US senators, professors, winners of Academy (Oscar) and Grammy Awards, professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, CFL, MLB, and PGA golf, an Olympic gold medalist, and a major producer of TV and film.
Undergraduate Education
Dr. Schumacher attended the University of Wisconsin for his undergraduate work, majoring in zoology, with an emphasis in genetics and genetic research. While at Wisconsin, Dr. Schumacher worked in a genetics lab led by a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the specialty field of segregation distortion.
Wisconsin is a top-flight research institution, consistently ranking at the top of research universities in the US. Examples of UW discoveries in medicine include the origin of embryonic stem cell technology and embryonic-like stem cells without the use of an embryo, the first bone marrow transplant in the US and the origin of digital subtraction angiography and cold storage for organ transplantation. Wisconsin has been at the forefront in the understanding of bacterial reproduction and resistance to antibiotics, and in the understanding and treatment of viruses like the infamous 1918 influenza flu epidemic, the H5N1 bird flu and the N1N1 pandemic. The prions causing mad cow disease were discovered at Wisconsin, as was the Rh factor in blood, and Wisconsin was the first to synthesize Vitamins A and D, and commonly-used drugs like Warfarin.
Wisconsin consistently does well over a billion dollars of research every year.
Medical Education
Dr. Schumacher received a Doctorate in Podiatric Medicine (DPM) degree from the Illinois (Scholl) College of Podiatric Medicine in the Gold Coast district of downtown Chicago. The school was founded in 1912 by the real Dr. Scholl, but in August of 2001, merged with the Chicago Medial School, and today operates as Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS). Rosalind Franklin University offers only graduate degrees in the health sciences (like MD, DPM, PhD, MS) and operates out of a new campus located in North Chicago, Illinois.
During the four years working towards his doctorate, Dr. Schumacher performed medical rotations at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Cook County Hospital (the hospital upon which the TV show "ER" was based), Oak Forest Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital and Henrotin Hospital, (all in Chicago), and the Wood Veterans Administration Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Additional rotations in private practices were conducted in New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and in Vancouver, B.C..
Post-Graduate Education
Dr. Schumacher's first year of post-graduate residency
work was performed at the Ambulatory Foot Center in
South Bend, Indiana, where the primary emphasis was
in minimal-incision, ambulatory foot surgery.
The remainder of his post-graduate surgical training was
performed at Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver,
BC. The primary emphasis of the Vancouver Hospital
program was traditional, open surgical intervention.
This was followed by two more years in Vancouver with
work performed in a variety of private offices in the
lower mainland.
Dr. Schumacher opened his Surrey office in 1991. He
moved to our current location at 10190 - 152nd Street
in Surrey in 2004.
Dr. Schumacher served as staff podiatric surgeon for the
Renal Department at Abbotsford Regional Hospital from
2013 through 2019.
In addition, Dr. Schumacher has, over the years, worked
throughout the lower mainland--from Squamish and Bowen
Island, from Burnaby to Vancouver and West Vancouver.
He has also worked as a public service in a variety of
remote sites to provide podiatric access to areas otherwise
without such care. Some of the communities in which he
worked are Powell River, Smithers and Hazelton in
northwest BC, Trail and Nelson in the west Kootenays,
and in native reserves.
In over 30 years of practice Dr. Schumacher has treated
athletes in the NHL, CFL, and NBA. He has treated
Olympic athletes, professional skiers, and a national
champion figure skater. He has also treated an Academy
Award winner and multi-platinum recording artists, as
well as three Rhodes scholars, members of the National
Academy of Sciences, several Canadian politicians, and
a European head of state.
Dr. Schumacher has native fluency in English and
professional proficiency in Spanish.
MAPLE
Medical Alliance for the Preservation of the Lower Extremity
At over 1,000 beds, Vancouver Hospital is the largest hospital in western Canada. In addition to admitting over 27,000 in-patients per year, over 94,000 ER visits, nearly 300,000 clinic visits, and 23,000 surgical cases per year.
How did Dr. Schumacher get into the podiatric profession?
"I started to consider podiatric medicine in 8th grade. My mother always had trouble with her feet, and through my years of grade school, I'd often accompany her to the podiatrist. She always left feeling much more comfortable. And each visit, her podiatrist, the late Dr. Arlen Hinz of Milwaukee, always encouraged me to enter the profession. He said, 'You can relieve people's pain. You can save their limbs, and save their lives. On top of that, you can be your own boss, set your own hours, live where you want to live; practice where you want to practice.'
"I soon saw first hand what he meant about the connection to the effect the loss of a limb had on one's life. Shortly thereafter, a very active woman my family knew lost both her legs to diabetes. She died shortly thereafter.
"Then my grandfather, also a long-time diabetic, developed gangrene in his foot. HIs podiatrist saved him from a leg amputation, but the condition eventually cost him his life. I was told by my grandfather's podiatrist that most of these diabetic foot problems were preventable, but there weren't enough practitioners in this specialty. And people often get referred to a podiatrist much too late.
"So I had podiatric medicine in my mind as a career path quite early.
"At university, however, I was introduced to a lot of other interesting fields--economics, geology, astronomy, zoology, ornithology, anthropology, and genetics--and I flirted with the idea of a career in these other fields. In fact, my major in my undergraduate years was zoology and genetics, with an emphasis in genetic research.
But I always kept returning to the idea of podiatric medicine and surgery, as I felt it offered more immediate, first-hand benefits to patients. Wanting to assist those who are ill was again brought home to me when my father passed away during my time at university. So in the end, I chose the podiatric profession because I wanted to see if I could make a difference to people like my mother, father and grandfather.
"The benefits of this profession are true even today, and I'd encourage young people to consider the field. Podiatrists have a unique skill set not replicated in other allopathic medical specialties. So you can help people in a way no other doctor can. There's a huge need, with way too few podiatrists, particularly in Canada. And the profession affords a great deal of professional autonomy and control.
"If you're a student interested in this field, give us a call or send us an email. I can tell you more."
(Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a British scientist best known for her contributions to the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA and viruses.)
What is Board Certification?
Board certification is a standard well above and beyond what is required to practice. In order to become board certified, there are multiple requirements.
First, in order to even qualify for board certification, you must have a specific level of training in your area of specialization. This means having obtained your doctorate, having passed two parts of the national examination, and having performed the right type of post-graduate (residency) training, and having passed your licensing examination. Obtaining this means you've obtained the basic level of competence in order to practice. Everyone practicing today must achieve this in order to practice.
Second, you must prove you then demonstrate have mastered your area of specialization. This is done in a variety of ways.
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At the time of Dr. Schumacher's certifications, this required traveling to Chicago for this examination. These examinations must then repeated regularly.
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The second way you must demonstrate mastery of your area of specialization is by submitting cases in a wide variety of categories. When Dr. Schumacher was certified by the ABFAS (the major surgical board), 75 different cases had to be submitted in a wide variety of surgical categories. Lab work, radiographs, CTs, MRIs, operative reports and photographs had to be submitted. Those cases were then reviewed by the Board, and only accepted if the cases demonstrated a high level of competence in varied areas.
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Finally, at the time Dr. Schumacher was certified, board certification required flying back to Chicago for two days of intensive oral examination.
Board certification ensures both the highest level of knowledge and a practical level of expertise in these disciplines. Dr. Schumacher is certified by both major boards in his profession.
Recertification examinations must then be performed regularly. Dr. Schumacher was last recertified by the ABPM in 2018 and the ABFAS in 2019. Dr. Schumacher is currently the only practitioner in the province with both board certifications.