AAP and AJPM&R announce Excellence in Research Writing Award winners

The Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) and the editors of American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AJPM&R), the official journal of the AAP, announced that Alberto Esquenazi, MD, has been named winner of the 2012 AAP Excellence in Research Writing Award for Best Paper. The publisher of AJPM&R, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, sponsored the award to help raise awareness of important research in the field of physical medical rehabilitation.

Dr Esquenazi was lead author of the 2012 Best Paper, which reported on the successful use of the ReWalk powered exoskeleton to restore walking ability to patients with thoracic-level spinal cord injury. The award was presented at a ceremony during the 2013 AAP Annual Meeting, held last week in New Orleans.

Award Honors Some of the Year's Best Papers from AJPM&R

The award-winning paper, "The ReWalk Powered Exoskeleton to Restore Ambulatory Function to Individuals with Thoracic-Level Motor-Complete Spinal Cord Injury," appeared in the November, 2012, issue of AJPM&R. Dr Esquenazi's coauthors were Mukul Talaty, PhD, Andrew Packel, PT, NCS, and Michael Saulino, MD, PhD.

Video Shows Patient Using ReWalk Exoskeleton

Dr Esquenazi and coauthors reported their initial experience with the ReWalk powered exoskeleton in twelve patients with SCI, including the intensive training regimen required. After fitting and training with ReWalk, all patients learned to walk independently. A video showing a patient using the ReWalk exoskeleton can be viewed on the AJPM&R website.

In addition, Siera Goodnight, MPH, was named winner of the 2012 Ernest W. Johnson Excellence in Research Writing Award for the best paper on which the first author was in-training when the paper was written. Ms Goodnight's paper, "Construct Validity of Language Independent Functional Evaluation as Used by Spanish-Speaking Clinicians to Evaluate Persons with Developmental Delays," was published in the February, 2012, issue of AJPM&R. Her coauthors were Tony Boggess, DO, Carlos Quintero, MD, Diana Mejia, Juan Felipe Amezquita, Karen S.J. Yamakawa, MS, and Andrew J. Haig, MD.

The AAP Excellence in Research Writing Award recognizes the lead author of the best paper published in AJPM&R each year. Winners are selected by a committee from the Editorial Board, appointed by the Editor.

The committee also presented Honorable Mention awards for two additional papers published in AJPM&R: "Development of an Objective Test of Upper-Limb Function in Tetraplegia: The Capabilities of Upper Extremity Test" by Ralph J. Marino, MD, MS, Mary Patrick, RN, MSN, Whitney Albright, MS, OTR/L, Benjamin E. Leiby, PhD, MJ Mulcahey, OTR/L, PhD, Mary Schmidt-Read, PT, DPT, and Stephen B. Kern, OTR/L, PhD (June, 2012); and "Skeletal Muscle Plasticity after Hemorrhagic Stroke in Rats: Influence of Spontaneous Physical Activity" (November, 2012) by LeAnn Snow, MD, PhD, Walter C. Low, PhD, and LaDora V. Thompson, PhD.

Provided by Wolters Kluwer Health