Rehabilitation Science for Basic Scientists and Engineers: An Advanced Training Program

Faculty from the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Orthopedic Surgery, and Neurology of Northwestern University seek to establish the postdoctoral training program, entitled “Rehabilitation Sciences for Engineers and Basic Scientists: An Advanced Training Program”. The goal of this program is to increase the number of postdoctoral engineers/scientists trained to perform research aimed at solving problems of persons with disabilities. To meet this objective, we plan to train 6-8 scientists/engineers in our three areas of special expertise involving a large number of people with disabilities: Neurologic Disorders, Musculoskeletal Injuries, and Prosthetics and Orthotics. Targeted technical, scientific and clinical training will be conducted through intensive clinical and scientific instruction and experience provided by the primary, secondary and/or clinical mentors with relevant clinical/scientific expertise. Postdoctoral trainees will be recruited using regional/national advertising in publications, web-advertising and email list-servers. With the help of national organizations dedicated to improving minority participation in science, we will also recruit minority scientists/engineers and/or those with disability to participate in our training. Our program has an experienced and accomplished faculty, drawn from diverse clinical and basic science departments. Since many are based within the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, we also have ready access to active clinical rehabilitation programs allowing trainees to interact closely with mentors and with persons with disabilities during their training. The combination of a capable faculty, based primarily in a major rehabilitation hospital, which is part of a distinguished medical school, provides an excellent environment for training engineers and scientists in areas relevant to the welfare of many people with disabilities.