Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, author, and activist, best known for playing the title character in the film Superman (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Reeve discovered a passion for acting and theater at the age of nine. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School, making his Broadway debut in 1976. After his acclaimed performances in Superman and Superman II, Reeve declined many roles in action movies, choosing instead to work in small films and plays with more complex characters. He later appeared in critically successful films such as The Bostonians (1984), Street Smart (1987), and The Remains of the Day (1993), and in the plays Fifth of July on Broadway and The Aspern Papers in London's West End.
Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or total loss of function in the arms, legs, trunk, and pelvis; paraplegia is similar but affects the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral segments of the spinal cord and arm function is retained. The paralysis may be flaccid or spastic. A loss of sensory function can present as an impairment or complete inability to sense light touch, pressure, heat, pinprick/pain, and proprioception. In these types of spinal cord injury, it is common to have a loss of both sensation and motor control.
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) is the University of Miami's graduate medical school in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1952, it is the oldest medical school in the state of Florida.
Jack Elliot Zigler is a Board Certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in spine surgery at the Texas Back Institute in Plano, Texas. He is best known for being the first surgeon to perform a ProDisc artificial disc replacement surgery in the United States, on October 3, 2001.
The Shepherd Center is a private, non-profit hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1975, the hospital focuses on rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and other neuromuscular problems.
Christopher Voelker was an American photographer.
Kessler Foundation, established in 1985, is a leading nonprofit in the field of rehabilitation research for people with disabilities. Kessler Foundation has its roots in the Kessler Institute, founded in 1949 to improve medical outcomes and employment of people disabled by brain or spinal injury. Kessler Foundation conducts rehabilitation research with the goal of increasing function for cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes, including employment, for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord.
United Spinal Association is a nonprofit membership, disability rights and veterans service organization in the United States. It was formed in 1946 as Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association by a group of paralyzed World War II veterans from New York City.
ALYN Hospital is a comprehensive rehabilitation center for physically challenged and disabled children, adolescents and young adults, located in Jerusalem. ALYN Hospital is a private, nonprofit facility and treats all patients, regardless of religious belief, nationality or ethnic background.
The Kennedy Krieger Institute is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, Johns Hopkins affiliate located in Baltimore, Maryland, that provides in-patient and out-patient medical care, community services, and school-based programs for children and adolescents with learning disabilities, as well as disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system. The Institute provides services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe and is involved in research of various disorders, including new interventions and earlier diagnosis.
The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation (SSPF) is a charitable organization founded in 2000 and headquartered in Pennington, New Jersey. It has since been renamed Conquer Paralysis Now.
The Canadian Spinal Research Organization (SCRO) is a nationally registered charity whose mission is to improve the physical quality of life for persons with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and related neurological deficits, as well as to reduce the number of spinal cord injuries through awareness and prevention programs.
Barth A. Green MD FACS is professor and chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami. He is also the co-founder of Project Medishare for Haiti, with Dr. Art Fournier.
Matthew Exton Reeve is a British producer, director, screenwriter, and activist. Born in London, he is the elder son of actor Christopher Reeve. His mother was Reeve's long-term partner Gae Exton. Reeve has a sister, Alexandra Reeve Givens, and a half-brother, television reporter and anchor Will Reeve.
Mary Elizabeth Bartlett Bunge was an American neuroscientist who researched a cure for paralysis at the University of Miami, where she was a professor of cell biology.
Branko Kopjar is a physician and epidemiologist at the University of Washington. He is best known for his contributions in the 1990s to the field of injury prevention and his later work on spine, orthopedic and spinal cord injury research. In addition, he has been published in several top journals in the fields of cardiology, oncology, public health and neurosurgery resulting in a total of more than 500 articles, reports, reviews and abstracts.
Scott Wiley Fedor is a motivational speaker, author, and disability advocate.
Vivian K. Mushahwar is a Palestinian-Canadian biomedical engineer. She is a Canada Research Chair in Functional Restoration at the University of Alberta, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
