Photograph courtesy of Resnik.
Linda Resnik, PhD, PT, an associate professor (research) in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice in the Brown University (BU) School of Public Health, and a research career scientist at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC), Rhode Island, has received the Paul B. Magnuson Award for her work with veterans who have experienced upper-limb loss.
Resnik directed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-funded optimization study, which led to the approval of the Life Under Kinetic Evolution (LUKE) arm for veterans with upper-limb amputations, the prosthetic device developed by DEKA Integrated Solutions Manchester, New Hampshire, and supported by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Revolutionizing Prosthetics (RP) program.
Resnik was awarded a VA Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Research Career Scientist Award in 2014 and also received a VA New England Health Care System Network Director’s Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence award this year. She is also the director of a focus area concentrated on restoring limb function for the VA RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, a collaboration between PVAMC, BU, and affiliated hospitals, and of the multi-institutional Center on Health Services Training and Research, which trains physical therapists and health policy researchers and mentors investigators in research methods.
Established in 1998, the Paul B. Magnuson Award is presented annually to a VA RR&D investigator who exemplifies the entrepreneurship, humanitarianism, and dedication to veterans displayed by Paul B. Magnuson, MD, a bone and joint surgeon, considered the architect of the VA healthcare system as it is known today.