{"id":29990,"date":"2025-05-13T10:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T10:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/?p=29990"},"modified":"2026-01-06T16:44:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:44:57","slug":"fes-center-executive-director-robert-kirsch-phd-receives-the-vas-prestigious-paul-b-magnuson-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/2025\/05\/13\/fes-center-executive-director-robert-kirsch-phd-receives-the-vas-prestigious-paul-b-magnuson-award\/","title":{"rendered":"FES Center Executive Director Robert Kirsch PhD Receives the VA\u2019s Prestigious Paul B. Magnuson Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development is the Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 highest honor for rehabilitation investigators.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Cleveland FES Center congratulates Executive Director Robert Kirsch PhD, who on May 13 received the Paul B. Magnuson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development.<\/p>\n

The award was presented to Dr. Kirsch at VA headquarters in Washington D.C., in a live-streamed ceremony hosted by Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Paul R. Lawrence PhD.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kirsch was one of six VA investigators honored at the 2025 National VA Research Week Kick-Off Awards Ceremony, an annual event showcasing VA\u2019s efforts to provide Veterans with the best possible care and latest health science developments.<\/p>\n

The 2025 theme of Research Week is \u201c100 Years of Research\u201d as the Department celebrates VA researchers and staff who have contributed to some of the most significant medical breakthroughs in history, as well as all those who continue to add to that incredible legacy.<\/p>\n

VA research has been, and will always be, at the forefront of innovation. VA researchers make up innovative teams that have historically developed effective treatments for tuberculosis, invented the CAT scan and the pacemaker, and performed the first-ever liver transplant. VA\u2019s research arm is instrumental in translating science into actionable solutions that improve health outcomes for Veterans and the American people.<\/p>\n

Addressing awardees and attendees at the ceremony, Dr. Lawrence, acknowledged the awardees for their leadership in VA research that is improving veterans\u2019 lives and outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir bold ideas are already reshaping what\u2019s possible for veterans and for medicine,\u201d Dr. Lawrence said. \u201cThey share a common purpose: pushing boundaries so that every veteran can live a longer, healthier, and more meaningful life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Visionary for Restoring Upper Extremity Function after Spinal Cord Injury <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Kirsch is the Allen H. and Constance T. Ford Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, and the Executive Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research, Development & Translation (RRD&T) Service \u201cCenter for Functional Electrical Stimulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

His research focuses on the restoration of arm movements to Veterans and individuals with complete paralysis of arm muscles due to spinal cord injury or other neurological disorders using functional electrical stimulation (FES), as well as high performance user command interfaces such as brain computer interfaces and advanced prosthetic user interfaces.<\/p>\n

During his remarks, Dr. Lawrence highlighted Dr. Kirsch\u2019s work as \u201ca place where courage, innovation, sacrifice and science meet, and the veteran who helped bring it to life.\u201d He briefly shared the story of Navy veteran Bill Kochevar, who was paralyzed after a spinal cord injury and courageously volunteered to become the first participant in Dr. Kirsch\u2019s groundbreaking study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what veterans and VA research looks like, reflecting the courage of veterans who volunteer for clinical trials not for themselves but for others,\u201d Dr. Lawrence observed.<\/p>\n

Accepting the award, Dr. Kirsch shared, \u201cI\u2019m very humbled and honored to receive the Paul B. Magnuson Award today.\u201d He thanked his family for their unwavering support, his mentors for their guidance, and the collaboration of many exceptional partners from Cleveland and around the country. \u201cMost of all I\u2019d like to thank the participants \u2013 Veterans especially. Our Veterans and all research participants are the true pioneers \u2013 their selflessness makes all of this work possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Premier Award for VA Rehabilitation Research\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThe Paul B. Magnuson award is presented annually to a VA RRD&T investigator who exemplifies the entrepreneurship, humanitarianism, and dedication to veterans displayed by Dr. Magnuson during his career.<\/p>\n

The award was established in 1998 in recognition of the importance of rehabilitation research within the VA Health Care System.<\/p>\n

The highest honor for VA rehabilitation investigators, the award honors the life and legacy of Paul B. Magnuson MD, who as a bone and join surgeon continuously sought new treatments and devices for assisting his patients as they faced unique situations presented by their disability.<\/p>\n

As a physician, Dr. Magnuson saw his duty not only as curing, but also as restoring a patient \u201cto his family, his job, and his life.\u201d He was a champion of the underdog and as an advocate for veterans was the architect of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System as it is known today.<\/p>\n

Investigators at VANEOS have previously been honored with this award, including Dr. Bob Ruff (two times), Dr. P. Hunter Peckham and Dr. Ron Triolo.<\/p>\n

Caption: Dr. Robert Kirsch receives the Paul B. Magnuson award from Dr. Steven Lieberman, Acting Undersecretary for Health for VHA; Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Assistant Undersecretary for Health for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks for VHA; and Dr. Grant Huang, Acting Chief Research and Development Officer for VHA.<\/em><\/p>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development is the Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 highest honor for rehabilitation investigators. The Cleveland FES Center congratulates Executive Director Robert Kirsch PhD, who on May 13 received the Paul B. Magnuson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development. The award was presented to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":29991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-people"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29992,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29990\/revisions\/29992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fescenter.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}