Elaine Katz of Kessler Foundation Attends "Lights! Camera! Access! 2.0"

This past spring, TV Guide attended "Lights Camera Access 2.0," a disability and media summit supported by various organizations including Kessler Foundation, EIN SOF Communications, the Loreen Arbus Foundation, PolicyWorks and the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. One in a series of regional summits, the event was designed to facilitate connections between people with disabilities looking to break into the media industry and representatives from media companies who are looking to hire. The day's events included guest speakers, resume reviews and speed-interviewing workshops, and networking opportunities for aspiring media professionals with disabilities.

Elaine E. Katz, Senior Vice President of Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation, spoke to TV Guide about how

Dr. John Deluca interviewed at 2018 annual Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers conference

While in Nashville, TN, for the 2018 meeting of the Consortium of MS Centers, Dr. John DeLuca, senior VP for Research and Training at Kessler Foundation, was interviewed by Neurology Reviews about advances in cognitive rehabilitation. With permission, we are sharing reporter Erica Tricario's interview with Dr. DeLuca, who is well known in the field of MS research as an expert in cognitive rehabilitation.

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 Jersey.

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 Drs. Liu and Momeni graduate from Kessler’s

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.

“Decline in processing speed is a common cognitive symptom that has predictive value,” said Lauren Strober, PhD, “which is why accurate assessment of processing speed is important for planning optimal treatment and care for individuals with MS. The

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 Kessler Foundation

Strategic Collaboration: Leveraging Dollars for Impact

The Great Recession strained philanthropic financial resources and the nonprofit organizations they support but also paved new avenues for collaboration. Today, we are seeing more models (e.g., learning networks, funder syndicates, venture models) that highlight collaborative funding as an increasingly popular and practical option.

When the Kessler Foundation board refocused its grantmaking program in 2005 on increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities, program staff needed to explore ways to maximize our small $2.5 million grantmaking budget to influence growth in a meaningful way. 

We began in earnest, exploring ways to use collaboration as a means of leveraging our modest resources to

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 and public health

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 of prosthetics and orthotics.  

Jerome

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 discusses the key findings of the 2015 Kessler Foundation

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 TBI.

“MS strikes people in their prime,” says Dr. John O’Neill, director of Disability & Employment Research, “and many leave the

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.