The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) will honor recipients for their advocacy and work in O&P during the AOPA World Congress in Las Vegas, September 7-9.
Recipients of the Ralph R. (Ronney) Snell Legislative Advocacy award are Aaron Holm and Adrianne Haslet.
Holm, a regular at the annual AOPA policy forum, is active in state-level advocacy in Minnesota. He founded Wiggle Your Toes, a nonprofit organization that assists individuals with limb loss through consultation, planning, and referrals. Holm, a bilateral transfemoral amputee, has participated in the fight against the draft Local Coverage Determination (LCD) for Lower Limb Prostheses, including the rally at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and at a Congressional briefing.
Haslet survived the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, becoming a transtibial amputee and an outspoken O&P advocate. She has worked to advance the O&P advocacy agenda by testifying before congress on AOPA’s behalf, participating in congressional briefings, being part of the 2015 rally at HHS and joining AOPA for its media briefings.
AOPA’s Inventor awards include the following:
- Van Phillips, Flex-Foot; The Flex-Foot is the first energy-storing carbon graphite foot, a variation of which is worn by roughly 90 percent of Paralympians and others worldwide.
- J. Martin (Marty) Carlson, CPO(E), FAAOP, Tamarack Flexure Joint; The Tamarack Flexure Joint is considered one of the industry’s most widely used thermoformable orthotic joint option for custom and semicustom articulating AFOs.
- M.E. (Bill) Miller, CO, The Boston Brace System; The Boston Brace System is one of the most studied system and is used throughout the world for the orthotic management of idiopathic scoliosis.
- Kelly James, PhD, C-Leg; The C-Leg was the first leg with microprocessor-controlled swing and stance phases, used to treat people with knee disarticulation and transfemoral amputations.
The recipient of the Edwin and Kathryn Arbogast awardis Elizabeth Bell, University of Maryland-College Park, for “A Mixed-Methods Examination of Limitations to Physical Activity as Reported by Individuals with Lower Extremity Amputations.” The recipient of the Otto and Lucille Becker award is Kierra Falbo, Northwestern University, for “Characteristics of Delphi Processes in Orthotics and Prosthetics Research.”
