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| The i-LIMB hand by Touch Bionics |
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has announced that it will honor three entities in the O&P community with da Vinci awards at its annual awards gala. Touch Bionics, Livingston, Scotland, has won a da Vinci Award for its i-LIMBTM Hand. Hugh Herr, PhD, director of the MIT Biomechatronics Group, has won the Spirit of da Vinci Award, and Sara Reinertsen, the first woman with a leg amputation to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, has won the da Vinci Founder's Award.
According to the society, the da Vinci award recognizes "the most innovative adaptive and assistive technologies that enable equal access and opportunity for all people, regardless of ability. These innovations play an important role in helping people overcome physical limitations." Touch Bionics CEO Stuart Mead said in a press release, "We are delighted to have been awarded a 2008 da Vinci Award--a great honor from an organization like the National MS Society.... New technology allows incredible advances to be made, but these advances only come into their own when they truly help people, and this is what these awards are all about."
Leslie Kota, vice president of marketing and development for the MS Society's Michigan chapter, said that the Spirit of da Vinci Award honors a recipient who has overcome a disability and contributed to mobility and adaptive ability technology. Herr, a bilateral transtibial amputee since the age of 17, has invented numerous biomechanical innovations, including prosthetic feet and knees. His interest in adaptive technology was spurred by his own condition.
The da Vinci Founder's Award is offered to a person who has been featured prominently in the media and who demonstrates that individuals with limitations can lead very productive lives. Reinertsen was chosen as an athlete who is "symbolic of the kind of courage, spirit, and wherewithal" of the award's overall philosophy, according to Tom Martin, public relations agent at Diane Martin Enterprises, for the society. Reinertsen was recently featured in a Lincoln Mercury commercial.
The awards will be presented Saturday, September 20, at the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan, at a black-tie cocktail reception, gourmet dinner, and awards ceremony that will be followed by displays from the award winners.
