MOUNT
STERLING, Ohio, July 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- WillowWood is excited to announce it has been
awarded nearly $5M over 5 years from
the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and
Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) to establish a Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center (RERC) for Prosthetics and Orthotics.
RERCs are considered national centers of excellence for a
particular area of rehabilitation. WillowWood has become the
first manufacturer to secure this award and will partner with long
time collaborator, The Ohio State
University, to collectively work on Innovative Design and
Research for Enhancing Assistive Devices or what will be referred
to as the IDEA Center. The goal of the IDEA center is to advance
clinical care, specifically for the interface between human and
device, through digitization, sensorization, and adaptation to
positively impact patient health outcomes and overall performance.
The advancements anticipated through the research will be realized
and sustained through a robust education and dissemination program
as a core activity of the IDEA Center. This award brings the total
grant funding portfolio of WillowWood Global to $13M secured in just the last 2 years.
"The challenges for pairing a patient with their prosthesis or
orthosis require multidisciplinary teams and multifaceted
approaches to overcome. The RERC mechanism enables our team to
partner with cross functional experts to comprehensively transform
the interface. We are grateful for this opportunity from NIDILRR,"
Matt Wernke PhD, Director, Research and Development for WillowWood
and Co-Principal Investigator for the IDEA Center.
"Our team has been building to this point for many years, and we
are thankful to continue our research trajectories as well as
explore novel ideas. I know our faculty and students are eager to
engage in the IDEA Center," Heather Powell PhD, Professor at The
Ohio State University and Co-Principal
Investigator for the IDEA Center.
"WillowWood remains focused on enabling the best clinical
outcomes for patients, and this partnership with Ohio State University combined with the support
from NIDILRR will help us continue to deliver a positive impact.
The partnership with The Ohio State
University has been incredibly successful over the last 10
years, resulting in several products commercialized and
award-winning presentations at domestic and international
conferences. Through our past collaboration and projects included
in the IDEA Center, we expect to greatly transform the interface
between patient and device," Daniel
Rubin, Chief Operating Officer for WillowWood.
"Ohio State's partnership with
WillowWood has flourished, from numerous research grant
collaborations to their investment in experiential learning through
student capstone projects and the Robert E. Arbogast Teaching
Laboratory. This latest victory for the team certainly bolsters the
impact we are making together," Dean Ayanna Howard PhD, College of
Engineering, The Ohio State
University.
About WillowWood Global LLC
Based in Mount Sterling, Ohio,
WillowWood Global (www.willowwood.com) is an industry leading
designer, manufacturer, and distributor of prosthetic products,
including liners, feet, vacuum systems and components. Recognized
for its products' superior innovation, quality, and patient
outcomes, WillowWood's portfolio includes the Alpha®
family of liners, the Koa® LP and Meta®
families of high-activity feet, the LimbLogic® vacuum
system, and the OMEGA® CAD system. For over 117 years,
WillowWood's prosthetic products have helped individuals with limb
loss find comfort and functionality, remain active and live life to
the fullest.
About Ohio State
University
The Ohio State University College of
Engineering's graduate and undergraduate programs are both ranked
1st among all Ohio universities
and 14th among public universities according to U.S. News &
World Report. The College of Engineering offers 18 undergraduate
majors, 16 graduate programs and a growing cadre of online degrees
and certificates. In 2023, total College of Engineering
enrollment—including undergraduate and graduate students across all
campuses—rose to 11,111 students, a 3.3% increase from 2022 and a
record-high. The new first-year students are also academically
gifted. Of the engineering students on the Columbus campus, 97.3%
are in the top 25% of their high school class and 74.8% are in the
top 10%. In fiscal year 2022, this research was supported by over
$162 million in externally sponsored
research expenditures. Industry R&D expenditures for the
College of Engineering in fiscal year 2022 totaled over
$50.5 million.
Media contact: Marketing@willowwood.com
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/willowwood-global-to-open-a-rehabilitation-engineering-research-center-302189252.html
SOURCE WillowWood Global