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Michael S. Nirenberg, DPM – one of a handful of forensic podiatrists in the world. His long career of dedicated public service in the Chicago area has seen him assist law enforcement in criminal investigations which involved foot-related evidence. He has treated many thousands of feet and been featured on a wide variety of national media. Some of Dr. Nirenberg’s major interviews and features include:
Dr. Nirenberg's paper “Forensic Methods and the Podiatric Physician,” published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, earned him the prestigious Distinguished Podiatric Writing Award while he was still a medical student. He was the first podiatry student to have a paper published in the journal without a co-author.
His professional articles have been published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association; the Journal of Foot Surgery; Northwest Indiana’s Parent Magazine; Get Healthy Magazine; the Fixing Your Feet E-zine; the Journal of Forensic Identification; and The Barefoot Running Book.
The History Channel’s MonsterQuest asked Dr. Nirenberg to examine footprints that may belong to the mysterious creature known as “Big Foot" in a remote area of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The episode segment may be viewed HERE.
Dr. Nirenberg is a Student Mentor for the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), and is active in a considerable number of academic and outreach programs. He has lectured to:
Dr. Nirenberg has also spoken at Chicagoland events organized by St. Mary Medical Center, the Kiwanis, the Y-Me Cancer Support Group, and the Chicago Arthritis Foundation. He is a regular lecturer to salon and pedicure students on how they can spot foot and ankle problems on their clients.
Dr. Nirenberg’s caring approach to assisting patients is to treat each of them as a member of his own family. “I take a very thorough approach to each patient’s foot or ankle problem,” Dr. Nirenberg says. In fact, in one case, he was so thorough he discovered a young man’s foot pain was due to a tumor in his neck! The case was published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association and he was featured on the front page of the region’s largest paper.
Dr. Nirenberg studied podiatric medicine in Chicago and completed a residency in foot and ankle surgery. He is Board Certified in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, and holds both a Bachelors of Science and a Bachelors of Arts degree. For 15 years he served as a Podiatric Residency Instructor, teaching new podiatrists the art and science of treating their patients.
He is not only a member of the APMA, but also of the Indiana Podiatric Medical Association, and the American College of Forensic Examiners. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Forensic Podiatry, and on the APMA’s Podiatric Seals Committee that determines which foot products would earn the coveted Podiatric Seal of Approval.
Dr. Nirenberg founded Friendly Foot Care in 1992 in a small two-room office and now is proud to offer patients the highest level of professional care in a custom-designed 4000 square foot state-of-the-art facility.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Dr. Nirenberg married Miriam in 1992 and is a father of two wonderful boys. In his free time he writes employee bios.
(To learn more about Dr. Nirenberg, visit In the News and Forensic Podiatry Consulting.)