School of Medicine

Stoughton, Mass – According to Mark Pitkin, founder of the International Institute for the Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors, four children and three adults have been fully rehabilitated from landmine-related injuries in just one and a half years. The Tufts professor said a group of international experts is now focused on creating a amputee children's center in St. Petersburg, Russia.

   The experts met in July as part of the Second International Symposium for the Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors, co-sponsored by Tufts University. The group focused on creating a amputee children's center because extensive surgery is needed for many landmine victims before they can be fitted for artificial limbs.

   According to Pitkin, the proposal for a St. Petersburg Children's Center has been accepted by UNICEF and an application for funding has been submitted to the World Bank. In February, Pitkin was awarded a twenty-thousand dollar grant from the Schaffer Foundation to create the International Institute for the Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors. He has received international support in his quest to serve land-mine victims around the world. Pitkin has also invented a new type of prosthetic foot for land-mine victims.