Pascrell Announces $2.28 Million Grant to Kessler Foundation
2011-09-29 10:03:16 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kessler One of 14 Model SCI Systems in the Nation
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today announced a $2.28 million grant through the U.S. Department of Education to Kessler Foundation. The five-year grant will fund comprehensive rehabilitation services for people who have sustained spinal cord injuries as well as a new research initiative. This grant will be in the amount of $456,998.00 for the first budget period year.
"I’m incredibly proud to represent Kessler Foundation in Congress and to champion their tireless efforts to improve the lives of those living with spinal cord injuries, and also those who have sustained traumatic brain injury," said Pascrell, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and House Budget Committee. "This new research study has the potential to provide new breakthroughs in our understanding of spinal cord injury. It will surely add to the impressive body of work Kessler Foundation has accomplished in improving rehabilitation for those affected by spinal cord injuries."
The $2.28 million grant to Kessler Foundation is administered through the Department of Education’s Spinal Cord Injury Model System Program, sponsored by the National Institute on Rehabilitation Research.
“With this major grant, our dedicated professionals will continue to advance care and research in spinal cord injury, extending our legacy of improving the lives of people with disabilities,” said Richard Kessler, trustee of Kessler Foundation and grandson of Henry Kessler, MD, PhD, founder of Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. “Through the SCI Model System, the research we conduct here in New Jersey benefits patients across the nation.”
This grant funds the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System (NNJSCIS), a comprehensive system of care, research, education and dissemination aimed at improving quality of life for people with spinal cord injury. The NNJSCIS is a cooperative effort of Kessler Foundation, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
NNJSCIS collects patient data from the time of injury through long-term followup, which is contributed to the National SCI Statistical Center. Data are used to identify areas where investigation is needed.
Kessler will conduct a study of a combination therapy using dalfampridine—a drug recently approved to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis—with a standardized program of locomotor training, a rehabilitative intervention that has improved walking and other functional outcomes in persons with spinal cord injuries.
Other areas of investigation include pain management, factors influencing employment, and aging with SCI, an important area now that people with SCI are living longer.
