Dr. Michael Boninger is a Associate Dean for Sustainability in the University of Pittsburgh’s, School of Medicine , as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. The Pitt School of Medicine’s sustainability initiative is aligned with overall University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Sustainability efforts. In addition to collaborating with the curriculum committee to offer a combination of coursework and experiential learning related to sustainability, the Pitt Medicine Sustainability team leads efforts to generate increased funding for sustainability research and interface with Pitt and community partners focused on environmental justice and dismantling climate change-related health inequities.
Dr. Boninger is also the Chief Medical Sustainability Officer for UPMC, the School of Medicine’s liaison to the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Sustainability, and serves on the Sustainability Task Force for Pitt’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.
He has published more than 300 papers related to enabling increased function for individuals with disabilities through development and application of assistive, rehabilitative, and regenerative technologies and the training of clinician researchers in these areas. Dr. Boninger holds four U.S. patents and has received numerous honors, including induction into the National Academy of Medicine. He has joint appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering, Rehabilitation Science and Technology, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute as well as the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine. He is President of UPMC Innovative Homecare Solutions (UIHS), a a nonprofit UPMC company designed to implement innovative post-acute and community-based programs that provide high-value care while improving the patient experience. UIHS works within the UPMC integrated delivery and finance system structure with the goal of transforming clinical care and creating new community-based programs to better serve our patients.
Dr. Boninger earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and his medical degree at The Ohio State University. He completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, where he became the chief resident. He came to the University of Pittsburgh when he won a postdoctoral fellowship in engineering and rehabilitation technology in 1994.