Kessler Foundation Awarded Four Grants by NJ Commission on Spinal Cord Research

Foundation scientists received more than $1.5 million to develop new strategies to improve rehabilitative care for complications of spinal cord injury

East Hanover, N.J., June 11, 2018. —The New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Injury Research has awarded four grants to scientists at Kessler Foundation. The grants, which exceed $1.5 million, fund diverse studies aimed at expanding knowledge of learning deficits after spinal cord injury, developing new tools for cognitive assessments, identifying types of neuropathic pain, and studying brain activity during exoskeleton-assisted walking. In May, the Commission announced a total of $3 million in grants to successful applicants from qualified research organizations in New

Kessler Foundation Researchers Honored at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Graduation

East Hanover, NJ – June 12, 2018.  Kessler Foundation’s researchers and post-doctoral fellows were honored at The Annual Graduation Reception of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. The reception was held at Ravello’s restaurant in East Hanover on June 6.

This year’s honorees are Gail Forrest, PhD, associate director of Human Performance & Engineering Research - Mentor of the Year; Yael Goverover, PhD, visiting scientist - Alumna of the Year Award; Kam Momeni, PhD, Kessler Fellow Inspiration Award; and Pei-Pei Liu, PhD, recipient of the Mitchell Rosenthal, PhD, Fellow Research Award.

“I am pleased to see

Seeking Healthy Volunteers for Important MS Study of Processing Speed

East Hanover, NJ, May 29, 2018.  Kessler Foundation in East Hanover, NJ, is seeking healthy volunteers for a study investigating a standard tool - the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) - for assessing processing speed in individuals with MS. By updating this tool with normative data from the healthy population, researchers aim to more accurately assess how an individual’s processing speed changes over time.

Dr. Boukrina of Kessler Foundation Explores Intervention for Reading Deficits After Stroke

NIH funds grant to further research on impaired reading post-stroke at Kessler Foundation

East Hanover – May 9, 2018 – Olga Boukrina, PhD, research scientist in Stroke Rehabilitation Research at 

Dr. A.M. Barrett Accepted as Fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women

A.M. Barrett, MD, director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation, has been accepted as a Fellow in the 2017-2018 Class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University, College of Medicine. The year-long program is specially designed for senior women faculty in schools of medicine, dentistry or public health who demonstrate the greatest potential for assuming executive leadership positions. The ELAM program provides fellows with the professional and personal skills needed to lead in today’s dynamic health care environment.

Despite the increasing number of women enrolling in medical, dental

Jerome “Jerry” Kessler, Pioneer in Prosthetics and Orthotics

Son of Dr. Henry H. Kessler, founder of Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, passes away at age 93. 

Jerome “Jerry” S. Kessler’s life was shaped by his belief that “all men, regardless of their handicap, are created equal.” Kessler combined his love of medicine with his expertise in engineering to create solutions for individuals with missing limbs due to amputation or congenital anomalies.  His pioneering work in prosthetics and orthotics was based ‘not just on bolts and nuts, but on an understanding of what is going to be most useful to make that patient independent.” His leaderships contributed to the professional standards for the education of modern practitioners

AXSChat Hosts Elaine Katz, Senior Vice President for Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation

Elaine Katz, MS, CCC-SP, Senior Vice President for Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation, talks on AXSChat about the rise and influence of collaborative funding to enhance inclusion of people with disabilities (PwD) in the workplace in the United States and internationally. Katz goes on to discuss her views on the future of disability employment, highlighting the Foundation’s monthly, custom report detailing the participation of PwD in the workplace: National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE). nTIDE is currently tracking an upward 17-consecutive-month trend of labor-force participation among PwD. In addition, Katz

It's March! Awareness Month for MS and TBI

March 3, 2017. Two disabling neurological conditions share March Awareness Month – multiple sclerosis (MS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).  These conditions share other things as well, including causing an array of cognitive, emotional and physical disabilities, and presenting barriers to finding and maintaining employment. Because employment is fundamental to productive and independent living, research is underway at Kessler Foundation to address the spectrum of challenges faced by individuals living with MS and

Benefiting the Community and Workers with Disabilities: The Dual Successes of Social Enterprises

By Elaine Katz, MS, CCC-SLP, Senior Vice President of Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation

Over the last ten years, there has been tremendous growth in social enterprise businesses, which are nonprofit or for-profit business ventures that strive to achieve a quantifiable double bottom line of financial and social returns. In many cases, these are revenue-generating businesses run by nonprofit organizations for both mission-driven and profit-driven motives. Often, these are organizations that understand and already provide services to the individuals they plan to employ through these businesses.  Because the goal of social enterprise businesses is to be self-sustaining, they often adapt commercial strategies to increase their effectiveness.  This approach has been

Investing in the Future of People with Disabilities: Our Partnership with the John J. Heldrich School of Workforce Development

By Elaine Katz, MS, CCC-SLP, Senior Vice President of Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation

Two decades ago, the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development was founded to strengthen the American workplace through workforce education, placement and training programs, and policy development. The Center, named for New Jersey business and community leader John J. Heldrich, is based at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Over the past 20 years, the Heldrich Center has become known as a national leader in addressing the needs of employers and jobseekers. Our own mission has been furthered through our relationship with the Center’s experts. For the past six years, Kessler Foundation has

Investing in the Future of People with Disabilities: Our Partnership with the John J. Heldrich School of Workforce Development

By Elaine Katz, MS, CCC-SLP, Senior Vice President of Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation

Two decades ago, the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development was founded to strengthen the American workplace through workforce education, placement and training programs, and policy development. The Center, named for New Jersey business and community leader John J. Heldrich, is based at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Over the past 20 years, the Heldrich Center has become known as a national leader in addressing the needs of employers and jobseekers. Our own mission has been furthered through our relationship with the Center’s experts. For the past six years, Kessler Foundation has

Latest Connections now Available - our consumer newsletter for individuals with spinal cord injury

It’s out! Here’s the latest issue of Connections - the consumer newsletter from our Northern New Jersey SCI Model System. Dave Carver is pretty pleased to see his personal story - "Small Steps toward Big Gains" - on the cover!

*Read about how Dave Carver and Mike Smith are coping with life after spinal cord injury.

*See tips from Dr. Brooks on bowel management and Dr. Zanca on caregiving issues.

*Learn about new resources and Kessler Institute’s Peer Mentoring Program.

*Find out about opportunities to participate in research.

Fire or False alarm? Restoring confidence in fMRI research

By Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, research scientist in Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation.

During the past few weeks I have been bombarded with text messages, Facebook posts and face-to-face questions and remarks from friends, colleagues and relatives. The theme I heard from very different people contained very similar information: several Internet posts with a very glum message were asserting that years of neuroimaging research are invalidated. For example, some posts like this one from the UK’s Register: fMRI bugs could upend years of research, sounded an alarm about a bug in analysis software that neuroimaging researchers use to analyze brain data, while others called into question the whole analysis strategy, e.g., A bug in fMRI software could invalidate 15

Volunteers needed for Gulf War Illness study

Although it has been 25 years since the Gulf War I ceasefire, many veterans are living with the consequences of Gulf War Illness. Kessler Foundation needs help from Gulf War-era veterans to answer important questions about their health-related quality of life. If you are a Gulf War Veteran (Desert Storm, Desert Shield, OEF, OIF, OND) and are between the ages of 18-65, you are eligible to help us with our research.  We are interested in veterans with and without Gulf War Illness. Enrollment in the study involves taking surveys and having an MRI brain scan at Kessler Foundation in West Orange, New Jersey. If you live more than 90 miles from West Orange we may be able to provide overnight stay accommodations. In appreciation for your time, you will receive $100.00.

Dr. Barrett discusses hidden disability after stroke on NJTV

On April 29, Dr. A.M. Barrett, director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation, appeared on NJTV's One on One show to discuss how stroke can disrupt a person’s 'internal GPS', causing them to have difficulties in navigating the environment – a disabling condition called spatial neglect. With host Steve Adubato, Dr. Barrett demonstrated how prism goggles are used to treat this hidden disability. Here’s the link!

http://bit.ly/One-on-One1828_Barrett

May is Stroke Awareness Month!