The Medical School's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation has received new funding that will allow researchers to aggressively investigate innovative treatments for people with disabling conditions and diseases. The Ida S. Charlton Charity Fund has endowed the Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professorship in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with a pledge of $2.75 million to the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Medical School and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

"The Charlton Fund's generous gift will help foster research and teaching in rehabilitation not only at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, but throughout the Harvard medical community, which encompasses 17 teaching hospitals and institutions," said Dennis Kasper, executive dean for academic programs at the Medical School.

"Over the past 10 years, academic rehabilitation medicine has begun to revolutionize the care of patients with disabling conditions and diseases, such as brain damage, spinal cord injury, and even some elements of aging," said Spaulding chief executive officer Manuel J. Lipson. "This new funding will enable Spaulding, Harvard Medical School, and the associated hospitals to pursue these exciting investigations and treatments more aggressively. It also will allow HMS and Spaulding to attract top-notch residents, fellows, clinicians, and scientists."

The Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professorship in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is the latest chapter in a history of giving by the late Earle Perry Charlton, one of the founders of the F.W. Woolworth Co., and his family. Charlton lived in Fall River and Westport Harbor, Mass., for most of his life. He founded E.P. Charlton and Co., which started with a single store in Fall River and grew to a chain of 53 five- and ten-cent stores across the United States and Canada. In 1912, he merged his stores in New England, the West Coast, and Canada with those of four other merchants, one of whom was Frank Winfield Woolworth, and the new firm became the F.W. Woolworth Co.

"Physical medicine and rehabilitation have been very important to me and my family," said Earle P. "Chuck" Charlton II at a reception in honor of the new professorship. He described how he was stricken with paralytic polio in 1955 and required intensive rehabilitation to learn to walk again.

The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department was formed two years ago by Harvard Medical School and supporting hospitals, including Spaulding, Massachusetts General, the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital, and other institutions. The Department includes more than 20 faculty members and the Residency Training Program has 23 residents and three fellows. In addition, Spaulding supports many rehabilitation fellows in related disciplines, such as neurology, pediatrics, cardiology, and pain. The Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professorship is the first endowed professorship in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and the first endowed professorship to be based at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

Walter Frontera, who chairs the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is the first incumbent of the Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professorship. Frontera investigates the physiology and biochemistry of muscles in aging, exercise, disuse, and pathological conditions and has authored 40 original scientific articles and book chapters in the areas of exercise physiology and physical rehabilitation. He is currently developing a muscle cell physiology laboratory at Spaulding. Frontera is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a member of the Association of Academic Physiatrists and the American Physiological Society.

"The field of physical medicine and rehabilitation is dedicated to the study of human movement, its molecular basis, cellular determinants, biomechanical correlates, clinical relevance, psychological perceptions, and functional consequences," explained Frontera. "Physical and mental health and functional independence are intrinsically related to all dimensions of human movement."

In describing the scope of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Frontera pointed out that advances in public health, medical technology, and acute care have vastly improved survival rates for people who suffer an acute illness or trauma, including spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation is vital for the physical and mental health of these survivors. The aging population is another example of the need for advances in physical medicine and rehabilitation. The proportion of people in the U.S. over 65 is projected to double to 24 percent in the year 2020 from 12 percent in 1988. Without rehabilitation, many of these people will lose their functional capacity and independence as they grow older.

"This endowment is a milestone for Spaulding, Harvard Medical School, and rehabilitation in Boston," Frontera said. "It is an honor and a privilege to be appointed the first incumbent of the Earl P. and Ida S. Charlton Professorship in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation."