TIRR Named Nationwide Center for Spinal Cord Injury Information

The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research has been awarded a $750,000, five-year grant that will make the Texas Medical Center catastrophic rehabilitation facility the nationwide center for collection and dissemination of materials produced by the Model Spinal Cord Injury System Centers.

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research’s Department of Education is providing funding for the grant. The purpose of the Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems Dissemination Center is to assure that scientific information and educational materials, generated through the 16 centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, are made easily available to all audiences who are interested in spinal cord injury. The center will maintain and disseminate a bibliography of the academic publications and scientific presentations of the Model Spinal Cord Injury System Centers and their collaborative research projects. This includes a collection of consumer and professional educational materials produced by the various centers.

Dr. Karen A. Hart, principal investigator, will work in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia to accomplish the objectives of the grant. TIRR will collaborate with Dr. John Ditunno of the Thomas Jefferson University Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, to set up and maintain the center. Dr. Ditunno is a longtime friend of TIRR, and a colleague of TIRR attending physicians Drs. William H. Donovan and Kenneth Parsons, and TIRR retired physician Dr. R Edward Carter.

Dr. Hart is vice president for education at TIRR and is the project director for the center. She is a tenured associate professor and director of education in the departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

TIRR and Thomas Jefferson University will collaborate with several organizations in the dissemination process. Among them are the Model SCI Systems Data Center, the National Rehabilitation Information Center, the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research, and the American Spinal Cord Injury Association.

"There has been a need for a center such as this, enabling those working in spinal cord injury research and patient care to make their outcomes available to others," Dr. Hart said. "We will collect and share items such as publications, presentations, educational resources, book and book chapters, and newsletters."

In addition, the center will create and maintain the Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems Dissemination Center Web site, located at http://www.mscisdisseminationcenter.org. The site will carry a Web-based bibliography database and will have links to the Model SCI Systems Data Center, Model SCI Systems Collaborative Projects, the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the National Rehabilitation Information Center, and the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research, as well as to professional and consumer communities.

The 16 model systems each develop uniform databases and integrate research into each facility’s patient care and delivery. The research stresses continuity of care from the onset of injury through community reintegration, and assists researchers in understanding how trauma to the nervous system affects the health and well-being of individuals who experience such injuries.

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