Date: Friday, December 2, 2011
Category: General

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                

December 2, 2011                                                                                         

Rehabilitation Engineering Summit Discusses State of the Profession

Professionals from across U.S. and Canada meet in Washington, D.C. for 3-day convening

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rehabilitation engineers and professionals from across the U.S. and Canada gathered in Washington, D.C. for a “Summit on Rehabilitation Engineering” this week to discuss the state of the rehabilitation engineering profession, trends, and employment prospects. Co-sponsored and coordinated by RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, the summit featured key speakers and over 40 senior-level professionals working in the field who convened for a three day meeting, held November 28 – November 30^th.  Other sponsors included the Institute for Economic Empowerment of NISH and the ASME Bioengineering Division.  The United States Access Board provided the space for the meeting.

The Rehabilitation Engineering Summit was coordinated by Jerry Weisman, MSME, ATP, RET, owner and principal of Rehabilitation Technology Services, a rehabilitation engineering consulting firm, and President of RESNA. Weisman developed the agenda based on a similar summit at the University of Tennessee in 1976, out of which came the first recommendations and guidelines for the education and certification of rehabilitation engineers, as well as the recommendation to form RESNA.

“I felt that after 35 years, the timing was right to hold another summit,” said Weisman, “With new opportunities due to advancing technologies and the aging population, the field has more potential than ever. We want to make sure that rehab engineers are ready for the future and can continue to find common sense solutions to help people in their daily lives.”

Featured speakers presented on the latest trends in research, service delivery, and education.

Reactor panels and breakout groups offered plenty of opportunity for feedback and brainstorming. The group plans to release a report with the summit findings and recommendations on the future of rehabilitation engineering by spring 2012.  For a full list of participants, visit www.resna.org and follow on Twitter @resnaorg.