Invention Helps Paraplegics Walk : ‘First Steps’ Engineer to Work at UCI Clinic

A researcher who combined electrical currents and computers to help paraplegics walk--and whose life was the inspiration for the television movie “First Steps”--has accepted an appointment at the UC Irvine volunteer clinic.

Jerrold Petrofsky, 38, accepted the unpaid two-month appointment at the UCI College of Medicine during a visit to the campus earlier this month, said UCI spokeswoman Linda Grinell. She said it is hoped that the move will lead to a permanent salaried appointment.

UCI officials said that Petrofsky will begin as a volunteer in order to permit him to transfer research grants to UCI from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where he has been a professor of engineering and physiology for seven years. No date has been set for the move, Grinell said.

At UCI, Petrofsky will continue research on the Functional Electronic Stimulation system, which he developed while director of the National Center for Rehabilitation Engineering at Wright State.

The system uses bursts of low-level electric currents to force paralyzed muscles to contract. A computer dictates the pattern for the contractions. Patients must wear conductive clothing and also use walkers, canes or crutches. Petrofsky’s system has helped paraplegics stand, walk and climb steps.

“First Steps” depicted Petrofsky’s life and the research involved in developing the Functional Electronic Stimulation system. He and his work have also been featured twice on the CBS television news program “60 Minutes.”

Dr. William Bunney, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, was instrumental in making arrangements for Petrofsky to transfer to UCI, Grinell said.

Petrofsky is on vacation and was unavailable for comment Wednesday. A spokesman for Wright State would say only, “We have no official word on his move.”