A.B.L.E. Tech:
Achieving Better Life Experiences for People With Injury, Disability,
and Aging Challenges Through 21st Century Technologies
Within a decade, the number of Americans requiring
continual managed care for chronic conditions could reach 100
million. Explore the entrepreneurial opportunities that technology,
engineering, and life sciences can have on the quality of every
day life for the aging and disabled.
"A.B.L.E. Tech" will spotlight:
- The vast entrepreneurial opportunities that technology,
engineering, and life sciences can have on the quality of
every day life for the aging and disabled
- Cutting-edge advances being developed today
- How to prevent a looming crisis by focusing on managed
vs. acute medical care
Our featured panel is moderated by NBC News
correspondent and MIT Media Lab Distinguished Fellow, John
Hockenberry, and features MIT Media Lab Professor Hugh
Herr,
and noted inventor, entrepreneur and president of DEKA Research,
Dean Kamen.
Speaker Biographies
John Hockenberry
John
Hockenberry is a veteran journalist who has excelled in every facet
of the profession, from broadcast radio to news magazine television to print
as well as being a pioneer in online
content. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the MIT
Media Lab.
Hockenberry is also a tireless
and internationally known advocate and spokesman for the rights of the
disabled. He was one of the founding inductees to the Spinal
Cord Injury Hall of Fame in 2005. He wrote and appeared in a cover
story for Parade
Magazine on the 15
year anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and is a contributing
editor for WIRED Magazine and METROPOLIS. He was a guest
on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and has been a stage presenter
for national and international design conferences for more than a decade.
Hockenberry joined NBC as a correspondent for "Dateline NBC" in
January 1996 after a fifteen-year career in broadcast news at both National
Public Radio and ABC News. Hockenberry is a four-time Peabody Award winner,
four-time Emmy award winner, and has won an Edward R. Murrow award and a Casey
Medal.
He is the author of the novel A
River Out Of Eden, and Moving
Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence, a
memoir of life with a disability. In 1996, Hockenberry performed a
successful limited run of "Spokeman," a
one-man, off-Broadway show he wrote.
Hockenberry attended both the University of Chicago and the University of
Oregon. He and his wife Alison live in Brooklyn with their two sets of twins.
Hugh Herr
Hugh Herr ME '93 is an associate
professor, Media Arts and Sciences; assistant professor, MIT-Harvard Division
of Health Sciences and Technology; and director of the Biomechatronics
Group at the MIT Media Lab.
Herr's Biomechatronics
research group applies principles of muscle mechanics,
neural control, and human biomechanics to guide the designs of biomimetic robots,
human rehabilitation devices, and augmentation technologies that amplify the
endurance and strength of humans. Herr has advanced novel actuation strategies,
including the use of animal-derived muscle to power robots in the millimeter
to centimeter size scale. He has employed cross-bridge models of skeletal muscle
to the design and optimization of a new class of human-powered mechanisms that
amplify endurance for cyclic anaerobic activities. He has also built elastic
shoes that increase aerobic endurance in walking and running. In the field
of human rehabilitation, Herr's group has developed gait adaptive knee prostheses
for transfemoral amputees and variable impedance ankle-foot orthoses for patients
suffering from drop foot, a gait pathology caused by stroke, cerebral palsy,
and multiple sclerosis.
Herr received his BA in physics from Millersville University of Pennsylvania,
an MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, and a PhD in biophysics from Harvard
University. Prior to coming to the Media Lab, Herr was assistant professor at
the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and
Technology and the Department
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School.
Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen is
an inventor, entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology.
He is the founder of DEKA
Research & Development Corporation,
where he develops internally generated inventions and provides research and
development for major corporate clients. He holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign
patents for innovative devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care
worldwide. Some of his notable inventions include the first wearable insulin
pump for diabetics, the HomeChoice T portable peritoneal dialysis machine,
the INDEPENDENCE ® IBOT ® Mobility System, and the Segway ® Human
Transporter.
Among Mr. Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration
and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating
the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.
Mr. Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT
Prize in 2002, is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and was inducted
into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.
