Qualifications
Dr. Tom Biernacki, DPM, FACFAS — double board-certified foot and ankle surgeon in active practice in Michigan.
Current practice
Owner and practicing physician at Balance Foot & Ankle, a two-location podiatric practice in Howell and Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Active clinical and surgical practice covering elective reconstruction, trauma, diabetic limb salvage, wound care and general podiatric medicine.
Credentials
- Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) — Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine, 2012
- Surgical internship — St. Joseph Hospital, 2014
- Residency, podiatric medicine and surgery — St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia, Michigan, 2016
- Advanced fellowship training — University of Texas–San Antonio and University of Tennessee College of Medicine, 2017
- Board-certified — American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (ABFAS)
- Board-certified — American Board of Podiatric Medicine (ABPM)
- Fellow, American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (FACFAS)
- Member, American Podiatric Medical Association and Michigan Podiatric Medical Association
- Licensed to practice podiatric medicine and surgery in Michigan — license 5901002481, active and unrestricted
- Hospital affiliations: Trinity Health Michigan, Corewell Health, Henry Ford Health
- National Provider Identifier 1821330051 — NPPES specialty designation Podiatrist, Foot & Ankle Surgery
- Languages: English, Polish
Verify all of it yourself
None of this needs to be taken on my word. Board certification in foot and ankle surgery is confirmable through the ABFAS verification service. Michigan licensure and disciplinary history are public through LARA license verification. NPI 1821330051 and its specialty designation are public through the NPPES registry. Opposing counsel will run those searches before a deposition. Run them before you retain me.
What I can speak to
My opinions are grounded in current practice rather than in what the literature said a decade ago. I operate, I manage diabetic limb salvage and wound care, and I see the routine office podiatry that most of these cases actually arise from. Where a question falls outside podiatric practice — vascular surgery, infectious disease, orthopedic spine — I will say so rather than stretch. The full list of matters I review sets out where that line falls.
Independence
I accept engagements from plaintiff and defense counsel. My fee does not depend on the outcome of the case or on the content of my opinion, and I do not adjust an opinion to fit the theory of the party who retained me. If the record does not support your position, you will hear that from me first rather than from opposing counsel at deposition.
Those are not house rules. The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons publishes Standards for Expert Witness Testimony for its Fellows — current unrestricted licensure, active practice in foot and ankle surgery, impartial evaluation against generally accepted practice, and no fee contingent on the outcome. My work is conducted on those terms, and the standard is published, so you can hold me to it.
Curriculum vitae
A full curriculum vitae, including training, hospital affiliations, licensure and publications, is provided to retaining counsel on request. Ask for it with your initial inquiry and I will send it with the conflict-check response.
Common questions about qualifications
Are you currently in practice?
Yes. I own and practice at Balance Foot & Ankle in Howell and Bloomfield Township, Michigan, with an active clinical and surgical caseload.
Can I see your curriculum vitae?
Yes. A full CV including training, hospital affiliations, licensure and publications is provided to retaining counsel on request — ask for it with your initial inquiry and it will come back with the conflict-check response.
What areas of podiatry do you actually practice?
Elective reconstruction, foot and ankle trauma, diabetic limb salvage, wound care and general podiatric medicine. Those are the areas I will offer opinions in.
Do you only work for one side?
No. I accept engagements from plaintiff and defense counsel and do not adjust an opinion to fit the theory of the party who retained me.
The defendant is a podiatrist. Does the expert have to be one?
Counsel will know their own jurisdiction, but the qualifying question is usually whether the expert practices in the same specialty as the defendant. Michigan puts it in statute: MCL 600.2169 requires an expert testifying against a specialist to specialize in the same specialty, to hold the same board certification where the defendant is board certified, and to have devoted the majority of professional time in the year before the alleged malpractice to active clinical practice or to teaching in that specialty. A board-certified podiatric foot and ankle surgeon still in active surgical practice meets all three against a podiatric defendant. Where the defendant is an orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon, assume the matching-specialty question will be litigated and raise it with me before you retain.
How is a DPM trained, and how does that hold up on cross?
Doctor of Podiatric Medicine is a four-year medical degree followed by a hospital-based surgical residency. Board certification in foot and ankle surgery is granted by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery; certification in podiatric medicine is granted by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine. Podiatric physicians are licensed to practice medicine and surgery of the foot and ankle, with scope set by state law. Expect opposing counsel to run the “not an MD” line on cross. The answer is straightforward: foot and ankle surgery is not a subspecialty added on to a general training — it is what the degree, the residency and the board certification are specifically in, and it is what the defendant was doing.
How those three tests apply in practice, and where a qualifying podiatric expert has to enter a Michigan file, is set out on the Michigan podiatry expert witness page.
The question counsel raise most often is whether a podiatrist or an orthopedic surgeon is the right expert for a foot and ankle claim. That page answers it directly, including the cross-examination to expect either way.
Start with a conflict check
Send the parties, the venue and a two-sentence description of the claim. I will confirm there is no conflict and tell you plainly whether the case is inside my expertise. There is no charge for that first conversation.