The American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA) has selected MossRehab's Nathaniel Mayer, MD, as one of the AMRPA Leadership Excellence Award Winners for 2017.

“Dr. Mayer’s innovations in the field of traumatic brain injury and life-long service to the field of rehabilitation are among the many reasons he is receiving this award,” says Bruce M. Gans, MD, AMRPA Board Chair.

“My interest has always been rooted in the concept of home and community function,” says Dr. Mayer. “The envisioning question I tried to imprint in our staff regarding each new admission to the Drucker Brain Injury Center was a mantra of two goals: where will the patient go (formally, a Destination Plan) and what will the patient do (formally, an Activity Pattern Plan). Noticing how the patient recovers function as he or she and the family emerge from and with the consequences of traumatic brain injury was key for implementing functional, workable Destination and Activity Pattern Plans.”

Dr. Mayer started his career in rehabilitation medicine in 1971 as a young physician in training in the physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program at MossRehab/Temple in Philadelphia. Dr. Mayer worked in clinical research under Drs. Frank Krusen and Leonard Policoff and eventually was mentored by Dr. Richard Herman.

Dr. Mayer developed a keen interest in the evaluation and management of functional deficits. He was an innovator in the rehabilitation of people with traumatic brain injury using a functional approach that evolved into the development of the Drucker Brain Injury Center at MossRehab, one of the first comprehensive, transdisciplinary centers dedicated to the rehabilitation of people with traumatic brain injuries. Under his direction, the center evolved to a national leader and permitted the development of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute. Nearly five decades after his arrival in Philadelphia, Dr. Mayer continues to direct the Motor Control Analysis Laboratory and is the founding director of the Drucker Brain Injury Center at MossRehab. He is involved in clinical research in the areas of function, spasticity and muscle contracture. He teaches residents, fellows, therapists and medical students and continues to be an inspiration to many clinicians for his functional approach to a complex patient population.

Dr. Mayer was editor in chief for nearly 20 years of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and has published or presented his research in numerous books, peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Learn more about MossRehab's traumatic brain injury services