Kevin Carroll, MS, CP, FAAOP, vice president of prosthetics, Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Bethesda, Maryland, has been awarded a Distinguished Service Award (DSA) by the United States Sports Academy (USSA). USSA is a nonprofit, accredited sports university that offers programs in instruction, research, and service designed to prepare students for sports careers.
Calling Carroll “an individual [whom] disabled athletes can turn to for prosthetic innovations that meet the challenges of elite competition or extreme sports,” USSA noted in a press release that he supported numerous Paralympians who participated in the Beijing Games in 2008, and that his customized prosthetic solutions helped bilateral transfemoral amputee Warren Macdonald summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. The organization also praised his work with colleague Dan Strzempka, CPO, to create a prosthetic tail fluke for an amputee dolphin, and mentioned his presence in the national media as an authority on prosthetics.
“Carroll has served Paralympians and disabled athletes through research, hosting clinics, educating others, and speaking at international events. He has spent more than a quarter century developing artificial limbs and is considered one of the world’s top prosthetists,” USSA stated.
The DSA is given annually to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to national or international sports through instruction, research, or service. Each nominee must possess an extensive background in sports. This means that the individual must have had significant dealings in either instruction, research, or service in sports for more than 10 years. The DSA is separate from the Academy’s Awards of Sport, and each recipient also receives the coveted Order of the Eagle Exemplar for their achievements.
