Director
Graduate Students
Madelyn Stout is a graduate student at the University of Utah working towards a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. She received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2019. There she worked as an undergraduate researcher for Dr. Anton Bowden on complaint mechanism solutions in intervertebral disc replacements. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, Madelyn was accepted as a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As a member of Dr. Eric Ledet's Innovative Medical Devices Laboratory, she designed a preliminary smart femur fracture fixation plate for quantifying fracture healing. Madelyn graduated with a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2021. Now in the UofU's Orthopeadics Research Laboratory, under the mentorship of Dr. Heath Henninger, she investigates the biomechanics of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. As an eager traveler, Madelyn has twice had opportunity to join her love of traveling with her education by joining a study abroad in Singapore in 2018 and completing an internship in Berlin, Germany in 2022. When she isn't studying or traveling, Madelyn enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with her family and her five pet reptiles.
Peyton King is a combined Bachelor's/Master's student at the University of Utah in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in biomechanics and a minor in Physics. She began working for Dr. Henninger during her sophomore year of undergraduate and was the recipient of a UROP award for her research in 2023. She is continuing to study longitudinal joint biomechanics of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty patients throughout her Master's. Outside of the Orthopaedic Research Lab, Peyton is the President of the Society of Women Engineers and the Vice President of Outreach for the Center for Medical Innovation's Bench to Bedside competition. She has a passion for medical device innovation and enjoys studying joint replacement biomechanics. During her free time, she enjoys reading, skiing, playing soccer, and spending time with friends and her cat.
Breydon Hardy is a graduate student completing his dual Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis in Biomechanics. His undergraduate and now graduate research focuses on developing an alternative method to model muscle moment arms of the glenohumeral joint following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. He has been working with Dr. Henninger’s team since his sophomore year of undergraduate, and was the recipient of a UROP award for his research in 2023. In his free time, Breydon enjoys volunteering, skiing, and weightlifting.
Undergraduate Students
Matthew Michaud 2021 – UROP Award Recipient 2021
Research Scientist
Jared earned his Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. There he conducted undergraduate research in Prof. Victor Barocas’ laboratory studying the mechanics of the intervertebral disc and facet capsular ligament in the lumbar spine. Also, during his time in Minnesota, Jared worked as a student technician for the Department of Biomedical Engineering’s Tissue Mechanics Laboratory. In 2014, he came to the University of Utah to join the Biomedical Engineering PhD program. Under the mentorship of Prof. Jeff Weiss’, he studied the basic mechanisms of mechanical damage in tendons. Through an interdisciplinary collaboration with Prof. Michael Yu’s (U of Utah) and Prof. Markus Buehler’s (MIT) laboratories, Jared’s research employed a novel triple-helical peptide hybridization method to detect denatured collagens and identified mechanical unfolding of the collagen triple-helix as a fundamental mechanism of damage in tendons. After finishing earning his PhD in 2020, Jared joined Dr. Heath Henninger’s group in the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory where he is investigating the biomechanics of rotator cuff repair and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. In his free time, Jared enjoys exploring Utah’s mountains and deserts with his wife and dog and singing in a local community choir.
Residents
Medical Student
Mitch completed his Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah with an emphasis on biomechanics and a minor in chemistry. He began working with Dr. Henninger in 2018 as an undergrad and completed his capstone thesis on subsampling as a viable method to increase data processing efficiency in biplane fluoroscopy motion tracking. He began medical school at the University of Utah in 2021 with an intent to pursue a career in orthopaedic surgery and returns to Dr. Henninger’s lab as a gap year research fellow with the Shoulder and Elbow surgery division. His research includes loosening and failure analysis of anatomic arthroplasty glenoids as a function of inclined glenoid inclination, and biomechanics of lesser tuberosity osteotomy repair constructs. Outside of research, Mitch also enjoys medical device innovation and is a recipient of the “People’s Choice” and “Grand Prize Runner-Up” awards at the statewide Bench to Bedside bio-innovation competition. His most recent venture, OrthoBolt, is a novel take on an expanding pedicle screw, and the company is currently prototyping and seeking investor funding. Mitch is an avid University of Utah athletics fan and enjoys skiing, backpacking, road and trail running, including a recent rim-to-rim-to-rim ultramarathon in the Grand Canyon.
Kyle earned a Bachelor’s in Biology with an emphasis in Anatomy and Physiology and a double minor in Chemistry and Economics from the University of Utah in 2024. As an undergraduate he conducted research in the lab of Dr. Lisa Cannon-Albright and Dr. Kristina Allen-Brady studying genetic epidemiology. After graduating, he joined Dr. Henninger’s team in the summer of 2024. Here he is studying glenoid morphology pre-revision shoulder arthroplasty focusing on three-dimensional classification. Kyle’s career objectives are to attend medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon. In his free time, he enjoys snowboarding, weightlifting, cooking, and spending time with his friends.