U of L, Frazier get $2.2 million for spinal treatment, research

The Frazier Rehab Institute and the University of Louisville have received $2.2 million for spinal cord research and treatment. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, is one of 14 awarded in the country.

The funds will be used to operate the Frazier Rehab and Neuroscience Spinal Cord Injury Model System, which will advance rehabilitative care to people with spinal cord injuries and "be the center of new research in which findings are rapidly translated into clinical and rehabilitation practice," a U of L press release reads.

The model system will serve Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee, and the funds will be used over a five-year period. Goals of the program will be to provide integrated, multidisciplinary rehabilitation care for people with spinal cord injuries; conduct research; and enroll at least 30 patients per year into the model system database, information that will be shared with the other 13 model system centers that will be established around the country.

Daniel E. Graves, who is an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research in Houston, will come to U of L to lead the undertaking. "The model system is a basic framework for building a research network that can capitalize on the expertise of our current faculty," said Graves, right. "It also will enable us to draw in more scientists to work with us, ultimately bettering the lives of people with spinal cord injury." (Read more)