Dr. Steven Kirshblum serves as Medical Director of the West Orange campus and Co-Project Director of the Northern New Jersey Model Spinal Cord Injury System, one of only 14 federally-designated model systems in the United States. Dr. Kirshblum has delivered more than 500 lectures nationally and internationally. He also is a prolific writer and researcher who has written and co-authored more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed publications and completed over 40 book chapters, 80 abstracts, and monographs on his major research interests in spinal cord injury and education issues. He is editor of the textbook, Spinal Cord Medicine and has written a children's book on spinal cord injury. Dr. Kirshblum received his medical degree from the University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School and completed a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, where he was a chief resident. He became board certified in 1991. Serving as a professor of rehabilitation medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, he most recently was President of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals while also currently being a member of numerous advisory boards and foundations for spinal cord research. In this interview, Dr. Kirshblum provides excellent insights into spinal-cord injury-related medical needs that require follow-up care, the notion of collaboration in care, communicating prognosis, workforce and postgraduate training, and what the future of PM&R might hold.
