Letter from the Director
The APT Center focuses on the practical medical needs of Veterans disabled by sensorimotor dysfunction, cognitive deficits, or limb loss. We create novel, cross-cutting assistive and restorative technologies within a structured framework that facilitates regulatory compliance, dissemination within the rehabilitation community, and transfer to outside manufacturers. Our R&D and translational programs focus on four major areas:
To date, Center projects have concentrated primarily on developing new materials, connections, and microsystems for interfacing with the nervous system, accelerating wound healing, replacing or restoring natural limb, sensory and organ system function, and both monitoring and promoting neurological, genito-urinary and vascular health.
Our primary strategy is to bring the medical needs of disabled veterans to the attention of scientists and engineers pursuing original work that could be brought to bear on solving pressing, real world problems. Transdisciplinary collaborative teams identify needs in the clinical setting and shepherd potential technical solutions through the R&D process to translate them into interventions that can improve the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities and advance the medical knowledge and care practices of the entire nation.
Our active partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the schools of Medicine and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, as well as numerous collaborations with University Hospitals, MetroHealth, and Cleveland Clinic, among others, have resulted in a cohesive, interdisciplinary network of scientists and physicians dedicated to the pursuit of clinically relevant and highly impactful assistive, restorative, or diagnostic technologies.
– Ronald Triolo, Ph.D.
