The Los Madroños Hospital and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Hospital in Chicago have signed a collaboration agreement whereby both institutions will begin to work together on the development of projects in the healthcare, research and teaching fields that will involve the exchange of neurologists, rehabilitators, therapists and biomedical engineers.
The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is a world leader in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The quality of its care and research has led it to be named “America’s #1 Rehabilitation Hospital” by US News & World Report every year since 1991.
The signing ceremony was held on June 20, within the framework of the joint symposium ‘HLM-SRALAB: Future of Neurorehabilitation’, which was chaired by Ilma. Ms. Doña Teresa Chavarría, General Director of Research and Teaching of the Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid, and in which representatives of both institutions and prominent invited researchers participated, who discussed emerging methods and techniques in the field of neurorehabilitation.
The agreement was signed by Ms. Beatriz Alejo, manager of Hospital Los Madroños and by Dr. Richard Lieber, Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Among other activities, they will promote collaborative scientific projects both in Europe and North America for the care of patients with spinal cord injury, stroke and Parkinson’s, as well as symposiums and joint teaching actions.
During the symposium, the Dr. Natacha Leon, director of the Advanced Neurorehabilitation Unit of Hospital Los Madroños pointed out the importance and the need for the exchange of clinical protocols between both institutions for the improvement of patients with injuries of neurological origin. On the other hand, the Dr. Jesus Tornerodirector of the Center for Clinical Neuroscience of Hospital Los Madroños considered the signing of this agreement to be very positive since it positions the Hospital and the Community of Madrid at an international level from the clinical, research and innovative fields.
Likewise, Los Madroños Hospital also housed the EUROBENCH SUMMIT on June 21 and 22, which was inaugurated by the Hon. Mr. D. Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid. The event featured keynote talks and round tables led by Dr. Diego Torricelli, a researcher at the Cajal Institute of the Higher Council for Scientific Research and Coordinator of the EUROBENCH European Project, and by Dr. Jesús Tornero, Director of R&D&i at Hospital Los Madroños and Director of the Center for Clinical Neuroscience-HLM.
El EUROBENCH SUMMIT was held as the closure of the EUROBENCH Project, whose purpose is the creation of the first European center for testing, standardization and research in robotic exoskeletons for rehabilitation, where companies and researchers in the sector can test the performance of their technologies at any stage of development.
Thanks to the collaboration of more than 80 companies, universities and research centers from different European countries, financed by the European Program Horizon 2020, the Project has developed a unified benchmarking software and has selected two facilities with test beds: one for wearable exoskeletons at the Los Madroños Hospital in Madrid, Spain, and another for humanoid robots, at the Italian Institute of Technology, in Genoa, Italy.
EUROBENCH SUMMIT brought together all the entities that have participated in the project, as well as relevant companies and researchers in the field of robotics applied to neurorehabilitation, at its Los Madroños Hospital facilities. The day was closed by Ilma. Mrs. Ana Isabel Cremades, General Director of Innovation and Technological Research of the Community of Madrid.