Maria Gerschutz, PhD
Maria Gerschutz, PhD, and Andreas Kannenberg, MD, PhD, have been selected to receive Thranhardt Awards by the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) National Assembly Clinical Sessions Workgroup. The honor includes a cash award of $500. The researchers will present the reports that garnered the awards at the 2010 AOPA National Assembly in Orlando, Florida, on September 30.
Gerschutz, an employee of Ohio Willow Wood, Mt. Sterling, Ohio, holds a doctorate in engineering with a focus on biomedical engineering. She joined Ohio Willow Wood in 2008 as an applied-research engineer and is now responsible for conducting and coordinating research on the applications and usage of Ohio Willow Wood’s prosthetic products within patient prostheses to gauge best-use practices and impact on quality of life. Formerly of Kalida, Ohio, Gerschutz now resides with her family in Jamestown, Ohio. Her paper is titled, “Quantitative Evaluation of Elevated Vacuum Suspension System Effectiveness Under Dynamic Conditions,” and in honor of its being recognized by AOPA, Ben Elliot, general manager of Ohio Willow Wood, presented Gerschutz with a matching cash award at the company’s March 31 company meeting.
Andreas Kannenberg, MD, PhD
Kannenberg serves as the director of medical affairs at Otto Bock HealthCare, Duderstadt, Germany. According to AOPA, he earned his medical degree in 1989 from Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, and was board certified as a general practitioner in 1995. He has more than ten years of clinical experience, including work in general and family medicine, surgery, internal medicine, rheumatology, orthopedics, and rehabilitation medicine. His paper is titled, “A New Shoulder Orthosis to Treat Painful Shoulder and Facilitate Gait Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients.”
