As part of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Innovation Initiative (VAi2) competition, WillowWood, Mt. Sterling, Ohio, in partnership with The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, and The University of Akron (UA), Ohio, has secured a contract to develop a more comfortable and useful prosthetic system to help patients at VA medical centers who have a transfemoral amputation. The contract was signed August 10, 2012, and publically announced by the VA on February 20.
The annual VAi2 Industry Innovation Competition, first held in 2010, invites industry leaders, start-ups, nonprofits, and academic institutions to submit their ideas to improve healthcare and services for veterans. WillowWood’s winning contract began with its proposal to improve the prosthetic suspension system and develop a socket system from polymer materials that draws heat away from the limb for enhanced performance and comfort.
“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the VA,” said Jim Colvin, WillowWood’s director of research and development and principal investigator for the project. “We worked hard to secure this contract and will work even harder to successfully complete it. This is a unique project that will be an exciting challenge for WillowWood and our partners.”
“This is an extraordinary Ohio-based industry-academia-government partnership toward generating real solutions for our amputees,” said Chandan Sen, OSU’s principal investigator for the project.
“Our collaboration with OSU also brings together the polymer and biomedical engineering expertise in our own College of Engineering and College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering,” explained Brian Davis, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UA and UA’s lead investigator on this project.
The project, which spans 26 months, is intended to provide individuals with transfemoral amputations with a more comfortable and durable prosthetic socket system that maintains fit and performance across a wide range of activities. Additionally, through the course of the project, extensive clinical research will be conducted by WillowWood and its partners.
