Listen: Why rehabilitation engineers need to listen to patients and their families

In 2020, James Sulzer’s personal and professional lives suddenly intersected after his then 4-year-old daughter sustained a devastating injury. As a researcher and associate professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Case Western Reserve University, Sulzer has spent his life tinkering with tools that help patients with neurological conditions. But after his child’s traumatic brain injury, Sulzer’s eyes were opened to how much his field was missing about the real experiences of families dealing with recovery.

In this week’s episode, Sulzer speaks with host Torie Bosch about the importance of centering patients in research and treatment. “For some reason in rehabilitation research, we’ve kind of lost that ethos,” Sulzer says. “It hasn’t become part of our DNA anymore.”

Read Sulzer’s full essay: “After 20 years in rehabilitation research, my young daughter’s traumatic brain injury transformed my mind and my career.”

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