Christopher L. 'Kit' Vaughan (born 21 April 1953), is Emeritus Professor of

Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

in the Department of Human Biology,

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in South Africa.

Early life and education

Born in 1953 to Peter Leslie Vaughan, a mining engineer, and Margaret Baillie Vaughan at

Blyvooruitzicht Blyvooruitzicht ( ; ) is a gold mine and gold-mining village in Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated about south of the centre of Carletonville and westwards from Johannesburg. History of the village The name of the village is of Dutch origin m ...

in the Western Transvaal, South Africa, Christopher Leonard 'Kit' Vaughan was educated at

Michaelhouse Michaelhouse is a full boarding senior school for boys founded in 1896. It is located in the Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal, Balgowan valley in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Spear’s Schools Index 2025 reco ...

, and then attended

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

where he graduated in 1975, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics and physics. While a student at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, where he received a PhD in musculoskeletal

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

in 1980. In 1983 he was a post-doctoral fellow in orthopaedic engineering at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

when he first began to establish himself as a scholar in the field of human locomotion.

Career

Vaughan spent the years 1986 to 1989 as an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

, where he published ''Dynamics of Human Gait'' that, with the software package ''Gait Laboratory'', was recognised as a seminal contribution to the field. Between 1989 and 1995 he was Professor of Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

where he directed the motion analysis laboratory and published significant findings on the treatment of children with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

. In 1996 Vaughan returned to South Africa to accept appointment as the Hyman Goldberg Professor of

at the

, a position he held until his retirement in 2009. Vaughan is considered an authority on the

of human locomotion for which he was recognised with the award of a Doctor of Science in Medicine degree in 2009. He served as President of the International Society of Biomechanics from 1999 to 2001. Vaughan was the founding director in 2000 of the Medical Imaging Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of the award-winning book, ''Imagining the Elephant'', a biography of

Allan MacLeod Cormack Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African and American physicist, academic, and Nobel laureate. He was Professor of Physics at Tufts University and won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with ...

who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1979 for his contributions to the development of

computer assisted tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

. In 2006 Vaughan was elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field, and in 2009 he was awarded an A rating by the

National Research Foundation of South Africa South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) is the intermediary agency between the policies and strategies of the Government of South Africa and South Africa's research institutions. History It was established on 1 April 1999 as an ...

as a leading international scholar. In 2010 he took early retirement from the University of Cape Town to serve as chief executive officer of CapeRay Medical (Pty) Ltd, a spin out company that is developing innovative systems to detect breast cancer.

Awards and honours

Vaughan was nominated for the Innovation Prize for Africa 2016.

Publications

* Vaughan CL, "The biomechanics of running gait", ''CRC Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering'', 12(1):1–48, 1984 * Vaughan CL, Davis BL, O'Connor JC, ''Dynamics of Human Gait'', , Human Kinetics Publishers, Illinois, 152 pages, 1992 * Sepulveda F, Wells D, Vaughan CL, "A neural network representation of electromyography and joint dynamics in human gait", ''Journal of Biomechanics'', 26: 101–109, 1993 * Vaughan CL, Subramanian N, Busse ME, "Rhizotomy as a treatment option for children with cerebral palsy", ''Gait & Posture'', 8(1): 43–59, 1998 * Vaughan CL, ''GaitCD'', a CD-ROM containing four separate packages: ''Animate''; ''GaitBib''; ''GaitBook''; and ''GaitLab'', , Kiboho Publishers, Cape Town, 1999 * Vaughan CL, "Theories of bipedal gait: an odyssey", ''Journal of Biomechanics'', 36(4): 513–523, 2003 * Vaughan CL, Langerak N, O’Malley MJ “Neuromaturation of human locomotion revealed by non-dimensional scaling”, ''Experimental Brain Research'', 153: 123–127, 2003 * Vaughan CL, O’Malley MJ “A gait nomogram used with fuzzy clustering to monitor functional status of children with cerebral palsy", ''Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology'', 47(6): 377–383, 2005 * Vaughan CL, Blaszczyk MB “Dynamic similarity predicts gait parameters for

Homo floresiensis ''Homo floresiensis'' , also known as "Flores Man" or "Hobbit" (after Hobbit, the fictional species), is an Extinction, extinct species of small archaic humans that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of Homo sapiens, ...

and the Laetoli hominins”, ''American Journal of Human Biology'', 20(3): 312–316, 2008 * Vaughan CL, '' Imagining the Elephant: A Biography of Allan MacLeod Cormack'', , Imperial College Press, London, 304 pages, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Kit 1953 births Living people South African scientists Rhodes University alumni University of Cape Town alumni Academic staff of the University of Cape Town Alumni of Michaelhouse