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Final Program


Final Program

Walter Frontera, MD

PhD
UPR School of Medicine

Walter R. Frontera, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of PM&R and Physiology at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). He has been a professor and founding chair of PM&R departments at Harvard Medical School/Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the UPR. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the UPR.

His main research interest is the study of muscle atrophy and weakness in the elderly and the benefits of exercise in older adults. He has over 378 scientific publications.

He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal College of Physicians (London), the American Physiological Society, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Academy of PM&R. He has been President of the International Society for PM&R (ISPRM), Visiting Professor of Neurophysiology at the Karolinska Hospital (Sweden), and Honorary Professor at the Nanjing Medical University (China). Dr. Frontera has been invited to speak in 64 countries. He is a member of committees of the World Health Organization on Long-Term Care and Sarcopenia Rehabilitation Interventions.

Dr. Frontera has received several awards, including the AAP's Distinguished Academician Award, Outstanding Service Award, and Distinguished Member Award. He has been the recipient of the AAPM&R Krusen's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Harvard Foundation Award, the Sydney Licht Lecture Award of ISPRM, the Herman J. Flax Lifetime Achievement Award, the Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award of the Gerontological Society of America and the Howard Rusk Award for Leadership and Innovation in PM&R. He is an honorary member of national PM&R societies in Belgium, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Euskalerria (Basque Country, Spain), Italy, Japan, and Mexico.

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