Skip to main content
Physiatry '25 Main banner
Final Program


Final Program

Walter Frontera, MD, PhD

Professor
University of Puerto Rico

Walter R. Frontera, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of PM&R and Physiology at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). He has been a professor and founding chair of PM&R departments at Harvard Medical School/Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the UPR. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the UPR.

His main research interest is the study of muscle atrophy and weakness in the elderly and the benefits of exercise in older adults. He has over 350 scientific publications.

He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal College of Physicians (London), the American Physiological Society, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Academy of PM&R. He has been President of the International Society for PM&R (ISPRM), Visiting Professor of Neurophysiology at the Karolinska Hospital (Sweden), and Honorary Professor at the Nanjing Medical University (China). Dr. Frontera has been invited to speak in 64 countries. He is a member of two committees of the World Health Organization on Long-Term Care and Sarcopenia Rehabilitation Interventions. He is Co-Chair of the Research Committee of the WHO World Rehabilitation Alliance.

Dr. Frontera has received several awards, including the AAAP's Distinguished Academician Award, Outstanding Service Award, and Distinguished Member Award. He has been the recipient of the Krusen's Lifetime Achievement Award AAPM&R, the Harvard Foundation Award, the Sydney Licht Lecture Award of ISPRM, the Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award of the Gerontological Society of America, the Howard Rusk Award for Leadership and Innovation in PM&R, and the Mayo Clinic Krusen Visiting Professorship. He is an honorary member of national PM&R societies in Belgium, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Euskalerria (Basque Country, Spain), Italy, Japan, and Mexico.

Disclosure information not submitted.

Presentation(s):