Spaulding's TBI and Burn Injury Model System Sites Renewed by NIDILRR

Boston, MA - Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital announced today that both its Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Program and Burn Injury Rehabilitation Program have been renewed as Model System sites by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). These selections combined with last year’s renewal of Spaulding as a Spinal Cord Injury Model System Site make Spaulding the only provider nationally to be selected as a Model System in all three specialties at the same time.

These grants are awarded in five-year cycles by NIDILRR through an extremely selective process. NIDILRR awards Model Systems grants to institutions that are national leaders in medical research and patient care.  Each site provides the highest level of comprehensive specialty services, from the point of injury through rehabilitation and community reentry. Dr. Joe Giacino will serve as Program Director for the TBI Model System Site and Dr. Jeffrey Schneider will serve as Program Director for the Burn Injury Model System site. Dr. Ross Zafonte will serve as Co-Principal Investigator for the TBI Model System and Administrative Co-Director for the Burn Injury Model System.

“Our selection again by NIDILRR is an important validation of the work we have done and will now be able to continue to do for the communities we serve. All of us at The Harvard Medical School Department of PM&R at Spaulding take enormous pride in being able to contribute to the national model systems data base to advance the science and care for these populations,” said Dr. Ross Zafonte, Senior VP of Research, Education and Medical Affairs, Spaulding Rehabilitation and Chairman of the Harvard Medical School Department of PM&R at Spaulding.

This funding will allow Spaulding clinicians and researchers to continue to improve both regional and national understanding of TBI and Burn Injury treatment models. Each Model Systems site contributes to the national Model Systems Database for a better understanding of long-term health outcomes.

“These Model Systems recognitions by NIDILRR are another acknowledgment of Spaulding’s standing as a national leader in rehabilitative care and research. Most importantly these grants can empower our talented researchers and clinicians with significant resources and support to continue to improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of people both here and nationwide,” said David Storto, President, Spaulding Rehabilitation.

About Spaulding Rehabilitation

A member of Partners HealthCare, Spaulding Rehabilitation includes Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, its main campus in Charlestown as well as Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod, Spaulding Hospital Cambridge and two skilled nursing facilities, as well as twenty-five outpatient sites throughout Eastern Massachusetts. Spaulding has been awarded a Model Systems designation in three specialty areas- Brain Injury, Burn Injury Rehabilitation, and Spinal Cord Injury - by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. Spaulding is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School as well as the official rehabilitation hospital of the New England Revolution. Spaulding is the only rehabilitation hospital in New England continually ranked since 1995 by U.S. News and World Report in its Best Hospitals survey, ranking #4 ranking in 2017. For more information, please visit www.spauldingrehab.org.