• Press Release

Mount Sinai Awarded Five Year Spinal Cord Injury Model System Grant

  • New York, NY
  • (November 18, 2016)

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was one of only 14 national institutions awarded a Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS) grant valued at $2,280,000 over five years from the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).  As a national leader in the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Mount Sinai is the only institution in New York State to receive the grant.

The annual incidence of new SCI cases in the United States is 17,000 with vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury, followed by falls, acts of violence and sports activities. As a selected Center, Mount Sinai will contribute and participate in independent and collaborative research, and provide information and resources to individuals with SCI, their family and care givers, health care professionals, and the general public.  

“Receiving this grant will enable Mount Sinai to positively affect the quality of life for many individuals with SCI and provide research breakthroughs for the important community that we serve,” said Thomas Bryce, MD, Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  

More specifically, Mount Sinai will also provide a regional multidisciplinary system of care that includes a number of innovative clinical programs for people with SCI in the New York City metropolitan area; contribute longitudinal data to the SCI national database; conduct one local research project to evaluate a novel approach to clinical inpatient treatment; and participate in three collaborative module research projects with other Model System centers.

“Our goal is to ultimately improve the quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injuries,” said Joseph Herrera, DO, System Chairman and Lucy G Moses Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation, Mount Sinai Health System. “We want to help patients and their families receive excellent care and also provide them with innovative and ground breaking technological advances and clinical trials that will change their lives.”

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is also a federally funded Traumatic Brain Injury Model System and is one of only 7 centers in the U.S. to hold both grants.

This grant was funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services # 90SI5026


About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

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