Mindy L.
Aisen, M.D.
Department of
Veterans Affairs
Mindy L. Aisen,
M.D. was appointed the Director of VA Rehabilitation Research and Development
Service September 1998 and assumed the additional role of Director of
Technology Transfer for the Office of Research and Development in February
2000. In these roles she oversees a $27
million program of research and development designed to advance in rehabilitative
care for veterans who suffer from disability or impairment. She is committed to improving the quality of
life veterans through a wide spectrum of research activities including studies
on amputation, spinal cord injury, vision impairment, hearing loss and
disabilities associated with aging. She
has expanded the traditional borders of rehabilitation research to include, not
only areas which can increase functional independence through compensatory
strategies, but areas which can lead to genuine functional restoration; neural
regeneration, cognitive rehabilitation and pharmacological approaches.
VA’s
rehabilitation research program includes an intramural program of
investigator-initiated research, nine Rehabilitation R&D Centers of
Excellence across the country, and the Journal
of Rehabilitation Research and Development, of which Dr. Aisen is
Editor-in-Chief. Under Dr. Aisen’s
leadership the entire VA Research and Development Technology Transfer program
has grown and taken on an increasingly active role in assuring that medical discoveries,
including orphan technologies, do in fact move from “bench to bedside”.
Dr. Aisen received her
undergraduate degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her medical
degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her residency at The New York
Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and interned at Mount Sinai Hospital of
Cleveland before joining The Burke Rehabilitation Center to serve as the
Director of Spinal Cord Injury Service in 1987. Prior to her work at Burke, Dr. Aisen was an attending
Neurologist with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Multiple Sclerosis
Research and Training Center. She also
was Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology and Professor (Adjunct) of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cornell University Medical College. She is board certified in neurology and
neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Aisen has been a member
of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation since
1994 and currently serves as President of that society. In addition, she has served as Chair of the
American Society of Neurorehabilitation Research Committee (1994-1998),
Assistant Editor of the Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation (1995-1998),
member Scientific Advisory Board of Paralyzed Veterans of America (1997-1999)
and member Grant Review Panel, National Multiple Sclerosis Society (1997-2000).