Pitt-UPMC’s Mind-Controlled Robot Arm Study Receives Top 10 Award From Nation’s Leading Medical Centers

A groundbreaking project underway at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC—in which a woman with quadriplegia took a bite of chocolate using a robot arm she controlled with her thoughts—has been selected to receive one of the Clinical Research Forum’s Annual Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards.

The awards recognize research teams that published in 2012 compelling examples of the scientific innovation that results from the nation’s investment in clinical research, according to the Clinical Research Forum. Jennifer Collinger, lead author of the brain computer-interface study that was published in Lancet in December, presented the Pitt/UPMC team’s work during the Clinical Research Forum’s April 18 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Collinger is an assistant professor in the the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pitt School of Medicine, and a research scientist for the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System. 

The Clinical Research Forum comprises the nation’s most prestigious and acclaimed academic medical centers and healthcare systems. Its goal is to sustain and expand a cadre of talented, well-trained clinical investigators at all stages of career development.