RR&D Research Career Scientist Application

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Dr. Kirsch has been a VA RR&D research for 28 years, and a VA RR&D Research Career Scientist since 2007. He has a very active research program and is a leader in both rehabilitation research and academia. His personal research activities focus on restoring shoulder, arm, and hand movements to individuals with extensive paralysis due to spinal cord injury (SCI). SCI is a devastating condition that often causes significant disability and loss of independence. Veterans are historically over-represented in the SCI population, and the incidence of SCI in more recent military engagements remains high. As a result, the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Service has prioritized SCI research, and Dr. Kirsch’s research directly aligns with this priority. His research specifically focuses on restoring arm/hand movement to individuals with high cervical (C1-C4) SCI, a condition referred to as high tetraplegia, who have extensive paralysis below the neck. Such individuals are typically dependent on others for most aspects of care and activities of daily living. Dr. Kirsch has developed state-of-the-art (1) functional electrical stimulation (FES) systems for powering and coordinating arm and hand movements in people with high tetraplegia, (2) human brain-computer interfaces that allow users to intuitively command FES-powered arm movements, and (3) musculoskeletal models of the human shoulder and elbow that are modified to reflect the specific characteristics of individuals with SCI or other disabilities, and then used in simulation to explore the feasibility of an intervention (e.g., FES) and to optimize system design for clinical deployment, substantially decreasing experimental trial-and-error. Dr. Kirsch’s research work is well-funded, his publication record over the past five years has been very strong (quality and quantity), and he is a sought-after speaker for seminars and conferences. Dr. Kirsch has also undertaken a number of leadership roles in rehabilitation research. He has been the Executive Director of the VA RR&D-supported FES Center since January 2012. The FES Center is a global leader in neurostimulation/neuromodulation research that addresses the unmet rehabilitation needs of Veterans and civilians with neurological disorders. Specifically, the FES Center has 86 investigators (43 scientists/engineers and 43 clinicians) and almost 200 total personnel who perform and facilitate cutting edge research across 5 different rehabilitation research thrusts: (1) Movement Restoration, (2) Pain Mitigation, (3) Autonomic Restoration, (4) Brain Health, and (5) Translation and Clinical Dissemination. In addition, Dr. Kirsch is a leader in translational research, being a co-PI of the of a new VA center entitled the “VA Translational Education and Mentoring (VA-TEAM) Center” that is focused on educating and mentoring the VA’s most promising translational research projects across the US., as well as the PI of the Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership, a nationally prominent program at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Kirsch is very active in the national research and academic communities. He was a member of the VA RR&D Career Development Award panel for 10 years and was its Chair for 5 years. He has served on review panels for VA RR&D center applications, Research Career Scientist review panels, two standing NIH study sections, and more than 50 proposal review panels overall. He served as the host for the 2017 VA RR&D National Center/REAP Directors’ Retreat. He serves on 12 advisory or review boards for academic departments and research centers. Dr. Kirsch has been the Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University for 10 years. He served as Vice Chair (2016), Chair (2017), and Immediate Past Chair (2018) of the national Biomedical Engineering Council of Chairs, and was the host of the national Council of Chairs Educational Summit in 2019. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He is a prolific mentor, having trained 17 PhD graduates and mentored large numbers of undergraduate students, young investigators, and faculty at several levels.