PROVIDENCE –– More than 1,200 amputees have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other anti-terrorist military action –– of those, 877 have lost major limbs. At least 12,000 veterans are suffering from traumatic brain injury, according to U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin.

With better body armor and more advanced emergency response teams available for U.S. troops, more soldiers who would have perished in past conflicts are now surviving –– but they need critical rehabilitative care.

Top doctors working to revolutionize amputee health care and dramatically improve limb function will soon be working in a new $6.1-million building on the campus of the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Yesterday, doctors and political leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony at the Chalkstone Avenue VA facility lauded the VA Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine. The center is a partnership between the Providence VA Medical Center, Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“More than anything, a veteran who has suffered an injury or mental illness would like to return to a normal life,” Langevin said. “This center gives our veterans the tools they need to make that transition as smooth as possible — whether by performing all their daily activities, returning to work or running a road race.”

Orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, professors and other researchers from the three partner organizations are already working together, but in modular units on the VA campus and elsewhere. The new center, expected to open next October, will allow better collaboration among researchers, all in one location.

Center researchers, led by MIT researcher Hugh Herr, have already created the first motorized ankle-foot prosthesis. They’re now working on the creation of a robotic arm, according to James W. Burrows, director of communications for the VA Medical Center.

“Already, the center’s breakthrough research is revolutionizing amputee health care, dramatically improving limb function and changing the lives of America’s heroes,” said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, the undersecretary for health for the Veterans Health Administration, who traveled to Providence for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Kussman spoke of the nation’s veterans –– who have chosen to serve –– who have been severely injured.

“One minute, these valiant young soldiers stood tall and strong, at the height of physical ability. And the very next minute –– with the flash of a sniper’s gun, a firefight or the explosion of an IED [Improvised Explosive Device] –– they were facing catastrophic injuries,” he said. “They have made a tremendous sacrifice on America’s behalf –– as have their families. These courageous men and women deserve the very best in compassionate care and expert treatment that this nation, and our department, can offer.”

Such care is a priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs and for Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake, Kussman said. The department is financing the Providence research center, which is one of 13 such centers in the nation.

The local center will focus on what Kussman called some of the most challenging medical issues facing veterans today: traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative diseases, amputations and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Veterans Administration has focused on prosthetic research since its inception and took a dramatic turn toward more such research in 1945, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said at the groundbreaking. The federal budget for prosthetic research, Reed said, has increased from $405 million in the 2005 fiscal year to $510 million in the 2009 fiscal year, which began in October.

“Today, we’re celebrating the building of a center, but we’re very lucky because the center will be populated by some of the most sophisticated and most productive scientists and researchers and physicians that we have anywhere in the world,” Reed said.

kbramson@projo.com