معرفی
Richard L Lieber, PhD, MBA, is a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Neuroscience at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and is a Senior Research Career Scientist at the Edward Hines, Jr., VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois. Dr. Lieber joined the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) in 2014 and oversees more than 200 researchers and over 150 research studies and clinical trials.
Dr. Lieber earned his PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Davis in 1983 and his MBA from the University of California, San Diego in 2013. His research focuses on the design and plasticity of skeletal muscle, with particular emphasis on muscle contracture in neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, stroke, and spinal cord injury.
Dr. Lieber has published over 386 scientific articles spanning from fundamental research in journals like The Biophysical Journal and The Journal of Cell Biology to clinical applications in The Journal of Hand Surgery and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. His recent work demonstrates trends in human muscle physiology, rehabilitation assessment tools, and the development of innovative measurement techniques for muscle function across various patient populations including those with spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and cancer-related conditions.
- Paul B. Magnuson Award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2023)
- Elsass Foundation Research Prize in Cerebral Palsy (2023)
- Kappa Delta Award, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (2013)
- Giovanni Borelli Award, American Society of Biomechanics (2007)
- Lifetime Achievement Award from American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (2021)
Dr. Lieber manages a grant portfolio exceeding $152 million from major agencies including NIH, VA, DoD, and NIDILRR. He leads the implementation of the "Research Accelerator Program" at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, enabling translational research with nearly 200 non-research staff. He also designed the Biologics Lab, the only rehabilitation-setting lab of its kind in the world, bringing together biologists, physiologists, and molecular biologists to accelerate discoveries in rehabilitation science.
As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Lieber oversees all research endeavors throughout the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab system of care and has pioneered studies of human muscle during hand surgery and in conditions of muscle contracture. His laboratory has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health for over 40 years.
