Philadelphia (August 2001)— The American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation has granted Subspecialty Certification in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine to Dawn Rider, MD and Michael Saulino, MD, Ph.D.

Drs. Rider and Saulino, both physiatrists at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, earned the certification by meeting prerequisites in medical practice and education, and by successfully completing a proctored seven-hour written examination in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine.

SCI Medicine addresses the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of traumatic spinal cord injury, as well as spinal cord dysfunction not caused by injury. Questions on the Certification Exam address, but are not limited to: spinal cord trauma and disease; medical complications of spinal cord injury such as chronic pain, spasticity, pulmonary impairment, and gastrointestinal complications; orthotic and assistive devices, and the rehabilitation of persons of all ages with spinal cord injury.

Subspecialty certification in SCI Medicine is designed to enhance the quality of care of patients with spinal cord injury or dysfunction. Physicians certified in SCI Medicine demonstrate special expertise in clinical knowledge and skill that improve the rehabilitation and care of individuals with spinal cord injury, and in diagnostic and management services for complex and severe problems related to spinal cord injury.

Dawn Rider, MD, is Medical Director of the Amputation Program at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital and teaches as a clinical instructor for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Jefferson Medical College. Dr. Rider earned a BA in Biology at Franklin and Marshall College in 1985, and her MD at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1989. She belongs to numerous organizations such as the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Association of Academic Physiatrists, and the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics.

Michael Saulino, MD, Ph.D., is an attending physiatrist and the Residency Program Director for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Saulino earned a BS in Chemistry from Villanova University in 1986, and his MD and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in 1993. He has done research on a variety of subjects including nerve injury, nerve regeneration, sports-related spinal cord injury and electrodiagnosis.