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Welcome to the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine's inaugural newsletter. This newsletter will be published on an occasional basis, announcing milestones in research, Center events, and significant Center related news. We invite contributions from all Center Investigators. Please send submissions or announcements to newsletter editor, Meg_Case@Brown.edu.
Center Welcomes New Investigators
Drs. Albert (Al) C. Lo and Stephen Mernoff have started a neurorehabilitation research program at the Providence VA Medical Center. This is the first academic rehabilitation program at Brown University and will be a major program area of the Center's rehabilitation efforts.
Dr. Linda Resnik Wins $1M VA HSR&D Merit Award for CRIS/CAT
Dr. Resnik has developed a new measure of community reintegration for injured service members called the Community Re-integration of Service Members (CRIS). The purpose of this newly funded VA Merit Review is to use comtemporary measurement techniques to develop a computer adaptive test (CAT) version of the CRIS.
CRRM Scientific Forum:
"Biohybrid Concepts in Limb Restoration: Blending Man and Machine."
On November 29, 2007, the Center hosted a scientific forum entitled "Biohybrid Concepts in Limb Restoration: Blending Man and Machine." The keynote presentation was given by Jerry White, the co-founder and Executive Director of Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) and co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to teh International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Guest presenters included COL Roman Hayda, MD, chief of orthopaedic trauma at Brooke Army Medical Center and Dr. Richard Satava, Senior Science Advisor, US Army Medical Research and Material Command.
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Stephen T. Mernoff, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurosciences (Neurology), The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Chief, Neurology Section,
Providence VA Medical Center
Medical Director, Neurorehabilitation Program, Rehabilitation Hospital of RI
Investigator, Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine
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Albert (Al) Lo, Ph.D., M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurosciences (Neurology), The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Adjunct Asst Professor, Division of Engineering, Brown University
Staff Neurologist,
Providence VA Medical Center
Investigator, Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine |
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In August of 2007, Drs. Stephen T. Mernoff and Albert (Al) Lo joined our team of Center Investigators. Both hold joint appointments in Neurology at Brown University and the Providence VA Medical Center (PVAMC). Together, they have started a neurorehabilitation research program at the PVAMC. This is the first academic rehabilitation program at Brown University and will be a major program area of the Center’s rehabilitation efforts. Dr. Mernoff is Chief of the PVAMC Neurology Section. His subspecialty interests include neurorehabilitation and behavioral neurology. He is leading the PVAMC Polytrauma Team, an interdisciplinary group dedicated to coordinating the care of Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans with multisystem injuries, particularly blast-related cognitive impairments. Dr. Lo holds a VA Career Development Award. His current active projects include a multi-centered randomized study conducted through the VA Cooperative Studies Program and the VA RR&D Service to test the safety and effectiveness of a robot-assisted device to restore upper-extremity functioning in chronic stroke patients. He is also conducting studies with MS patients using a robot-assisted body weight supported motorized treadmill and an ankle robot device as novel interventional devices for the restoration of lower-extremity function. These techniques are applicable to individuals with limb injuries. Drs. Lo and Mernoff look forward to collaborations with other Center investigators in areas related to neurological injury, repair, regeneration and restoration of function.
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 Linda Resnik, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Community Health (Research), The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Research Health Scientist,
Providence VA Medical Center
Investigator, Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine |
In November 2007, Center Investigator Linda Resnik, Ph.D. was awarded a VA HSR&D Merit Review. In preliminary work over the past three years Dr. Resnik has developed a new measure of community reintegration for injured service members – the Community Re-integration of Service Members (CRIS). The CRIS is a comprehensive and lengthy instrument derived from formative research on OIF/OEF veterans, caregivers and clinical experts, and from a comprehensive review of existing measures. It has excellent measurement properties; however, the length of the CRIS may limit its utility in the clinical environment. The purpose of this newly funded VA Merit Review is to use contemporary measurement techniques to develop a computer adaptive test (CAT) version of the CRIS. Once the CRIS-CAT prototype is developed, its use will allow efficient assessment and tracking. It will also facilitate earlier identification, prevention and treatment of social disengagement, and improvement in quality of care for veterans. Dr. Resnik’s Merit Review is a collaborative effort between health services researcher, Melissa Clark at Brown University’s Survey Center, and rehabilitation outcome measurement developer, Alan Jette, at Boston University.
This $1M merit award follows on the heels of Dr. Resnik's previous HSR&D service directed grant award ($250,000) in June, "Community Reintegration for OEF/OIF Veterans: Research Collaborations." This project involves three sub-studies, including a collaborative research project at the Center for the Intrepid (CFI) at Brooke Army Medical Center. Dr. Resnik works closely with Dr. Susan Allen and other faculty members at Brown's Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. She is also part of the Rehabiliation Research team at the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine, and a member of the VA HSR&D Targeted Research Enhancement Program (TREP).
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CRRM SCIENTIFIC FORUM
On November 29, 2007, the Center hosted a scientific forum entitled “Biohybrid Concepts in Limb Restoration: Blending Man and Machine.” Jerry White gave the keynote presentation, “When Life Explodes: How to Rebuild and Overcome War Injury.” White is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) and co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Guest presenters included COL Roman Hayda, MD, chief of orthopaedic trauma at Brooke Army Medical, who spoke about challenges faced by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Richard M. Satava, Senior Science Advisor, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, provided an overview of advanced surgical technologies. MIT professor and Center Investigator, Hugh Herr, Ph.D., explained the principles involved in constructing the world’s first powered biomimetic lower extremity prosthesis. Other speakers included Center Investigators at Brown University, including John Donoghue, Ph.D. who presented cutting edge achievements in decoding neural activity to control rehabilitative devices; William Warren, Ph.D., who described how virtual reality and motion tracking could be used to assess limb disability and treatment; and Jeffrey Morgan, Ph.D., who explained how osseointegrated percutaneous devices offer a movel method of attaching prosthetic limbs directly to bone. In addition to wide attendance by students and faculty from Brown University, the forum audience included state and national representatives including Rhode Island Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, members of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health/Veterans Affairs, and the Director, administrative staff, and medical personnel from the Providence VA Medical Center.
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Newsletter Editor: Meg Case, Ph.D., Editorial and Education Manager, Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine.
We invite submissions from all Center Investigators. Please send comments/suggestions to Meg_Case@Brown.edu |
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