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Richard LieberCenter MemberChief Scientist and Senior Vice President of Research at Rehabilitation Institute of ChicagoProfessor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of EngineeringProfessor of Physiology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine

Rick Lieber earned his PhD in Biophysics from U.C. Davis developing a theory of light diffraction that was applied to mechanical studies of single muscle cells. He joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 1985 where he spent the first 30 years of his academic career, achieving the rank of Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He received his MBA in 2013 and is currently Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

Dr. Lieber’s work is characterized by its interdisciplinary nature—an approach that is relevant to those who study biomechanics and Orthopaedic Surgery. He has published over 250 articles in journals ranging from the very basic such as The Biophysical Journal and The Journal of Cell Biology to those more applied such as The Journal of Hand Surgery and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. Dr. Lieber’s research focuses on design and plasticity of skeletal muscle. Currently, he is developing state-of-the-art approaches to understanding muscle contractures that result from cerebral palsy, stroke and spinal cord injury.

In recognition of the clinical impact of his basic science studies, Dr. Lieber has been honored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Kappa Delta Award; twice), the American Bone and Joint Surgeons (Nicolas Andry Award) the American College of Sports Medicine (Fellow), and the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright Fellowship) and the American Society for Biomechanics (Borelli Award). He was also recently awarded the Senior Research Career Scientist from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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