William Zev Rymer, MD, PhD

W. Zev Rymer, M.D., Ph.D., has lent his expertise and leadership first to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) and then to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for the last quarter century. He was the second scientist hired by the organization and is a founding force behind the growth and success of our research enterprise, to date the largest and most internationally revered of its kind. He served RIC as Chief Scientist for nine years, transitioning to his current role as Director of Research Planning in July 2014. Today he also continues to lead his renowned Sensory Motor Performance Program (SMPP) laboratories. In addition, Dr. Rymer served as RIC’s John G. Searle Chair in Rehabilitation Research, stepping down in July 2014.

In addition to his research roles, Dr. Rymer holds appointments as Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at  Northwestern University and at the Edward Hines, Jr., Veterans Administration Hines Hospital, Hines, Illinois. His laboratory receives support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a number of research-oriented foundations and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Rymer earned his medical degree from Melbourne University and his Ph.D. in neurophysiology from Monash University, both in Australia. After postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University Medical School, he became an assistant professor of neurosurgery and physiology at the State University of New York, Syracuse. In 1978, he came to Chicago as an assistant professor of physiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, and he remained as a faculty member in physiology until his appointment at the RIC in 1989.