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'Health Care Heroes' recognized for achievement
September 30, 2011
Norman J. Arnold and Dr. Julius Fridriksson were named "Health Care Heroes" in the inaugural competition sponsored by the Columbia Regional Business Report.
The Arnold School of Public Health's benefactor, Norman J. Arnold, was recognized for his commitment to help South Carolinians become healthier and improve the quality of life for children and adults through the endowment he and his wife Gerry Sue created in 2000. He was named the Health Care Hero in the "Community Outreach" category.
Dr. Julius Fridriksson, a researcher in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was honored for his pioneering research in the study of speech disabilities related to stroke. Fridriksson was named the "Researcher" Health Care Hero in a category that included finalists Dr. Charles Bennett and Dr. Igor Roninson, both from USC's South Carolina College of Pharmacy.
Arnold School alumna Britt Hinks, a 2002 graduate from the Department of Exercise Science, was recognized as a Health Care Hero Finalist in the "Community Outreach" category. A community education instructor at Providence Hospital, Hinks shared the award with Carmen Wilson.
Other categories in the contest were Health Care Professional, won by Randall Voyles, a retired nurse with the U.S. Army; Nurse, won by Dr. Lisa Williams of USC's College of Nursing; First Responder, won by Michael Murley of Midlands MedTech; Volunteer, won by Davis Hook Jr. of The Free Medical Clinic; and Physician, won by Dr. Elliott Chen of the USC School of Medicine's Department of Surgery.
Dr. Tom Chandler, Arnold School dean, accepted the award for Mr. Arnold at a dinner Thursday (Sept. 29) at Columbia's Marriott hotel.
"Our achievement in so many areas has been made possible by the generosity of the Arnold family," Chandler said, noting that the Arnolds' endowment currently funds the education for 50 Ph.D. students.
"Quiet and unassuming, the Arnold family is making a difference every day in the lives of people throughout South Carolina, and their commitment to improving healthcare will be felt for generations. The Arnold School of Public Health is a testament to their benevolence," he said.
Fridriksson has been hailed by scientific colleagues as one of the "most distinguished pioneers" in the study of speech disabilities related to stroke.
The accolades for Fridriksson, 42, are in an area of stroke study that has seen little progress – aphasia, a communication disorder that impairs a person's ability to process language and formulate speech.
Fridriksson, who joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health in 2001, is considered one of the world's leading authorities on stroke and aphasia and is on the fast-track to make a difference in the lives of stroke patients and their families.
Aphasia affects about 35 percent of all stroke patients, and – for a state that is in the nation's "Stroke Belt" – the problem is particularly acute among South Carolinians. Stroke is the No. 1 cause of serious, long-term disability in adults, and stroke is the nation's third leading cause of death.
Chandler said that Fridriksson's research affects people throughout our state, nation and world.
"In South Carolina, unfortunately, almost everyone has a family member or friend who has had a stroke," Dr. Chandler said. "The findings from Dr. Fridriksson's research offer hope to many."
The award comes as Fridriksson recently learned of another top honor. He has been selected as the recipient of the Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Clinical Achievement from the American Speech and Hearing Foundation. The award recognizes significant accomplishments in the advancement of clinical service in speech-language pathology and/or audiology. Fridriksson will receive the award at the American Speech and Hearing Conference in November in San Diego.
Fridriksson said he was led to a career in stroke communication research because he saw so much need. "We have had a great deal of research done on rehabilitation after a stroke for more than a century, but there has been very little progress in the area of communication. When you start working with patients, you see the clear need for improvement."
The director of the Aphasia Laboratory at the Arnold School, Fridriksson and his research team have worked with hundreds of stroke patients through his work at USC. Last year, Fridriksson was the author of a study on the use of neuroimaging of stroke patients, struggling to regain ability to communicate. The study found that brain cells outside the damaged area of the brain can take on new roles, also called "brain plasticity."
The findings offer hope to patients of "chronic stroke," characterized by the death of cells in a specific area of the brain. The damage results in long-term or permanent disability.
"For years, we heard little about stroke recovery because it was believed that very little could be done," Fridriksson said. "But this study shows that the adult brain is quite capable of changing, and we are able to see those images now. This will substantially change the treatment for chronic-stroke patients."
Fridriksson is the principal investigator on two grants totaling more than $3 million from the National Institutes of Health, both aimed at understanding speech and communication problems associated with stroke. He has served as the co-principal investigator on two other NIH studies, one of which deals with brain damage in stroke patients.
One of the state's leading neuro-imaging researchers, Fridriksson uses functional Magnetic Resolution (fMRI) to study speech production and speech comprehension – a new field of research for stroke patients.
"We study the most debilitating part of stroke – communication," he said. "Many people survive stroke because medical treatment has improved the chances for survival. They can undergo rehabilitation and make progress with physical impairments caused by having a stroke."
But the communication problems often keep people from leading a complete life, Fridriksson said.
"It's our ability to communicate that makes us human," he said. "When you take that away, people cannot live completely normal lives."
Half of all stroke patients are under the age of 60. "They could live for decades without having the ability to communicate again."
