Mount Sinai Receives $3 Million Gift to Help Children With Spinal Cord Injuries and Cerebral Palsy Regain Mobility
Donation from Ruth Lazarus and Michael Feldberg will fund a first-of-its-kind pediatric implanted neurostimulation program
Mount Sinai’s Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance has announced a $3 million gift from Ruth Lazarus and Michael Feldberg to launch the Pediatric Implanted Neurostimulation Program at the Charles Lazarus Children’s Abilities Center. This program will be the first of its kind in the world, aimed at helping paralyzed children with spinal cord injuries and cerebral palsy regain mobility.
“Millions of children worldwide live with permanent disability after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury, and this research has the potential to completely change what is possible in terms of rehabilitation for these kids,” says David Putrino, PhD, Director of the Charles Lazarus Children’s Abilities Center and Rehabilitation Innovation at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “By working collaboratively with some of the most innovative companies in the world, we have successfully rehabilitated severe neurological paralysis in adults using implanted neurostimulation techniques. Now, we will be completing some of the world’s first trials to evaluate if these technologies can also help children similar neurological disabilities.”
This innovative program will study the use of experimental implanted neurostimulation techniques, such as epidural spinal stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation, in treating paralysis in children who live with spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy. This work will involve implanting devices that emit electrical pulses to activate damaged neural pathways. Until now, this therapy has only been studied in adults. In adult trials, many patients who were completely paralyzed regained the ability to stand, walk with support, and use their affected arm after receiving the implant and completing intensive physical therapy.
This program plans to recruit between two and six pediatric patients per year over a five-year period. Each child will undergo a procedure with a leading Mount Sinai neurosurgeon to receive the implants, and will then undergo an intensive physical therapy program to retrain functional movements. The program will also aim to develop telerehabilitation technologies and strategies to support remote recovery and make the therapy more readily scalable to many who might be able to benefit from these procedures.
This initiative will generate data to optimize therapy protocols and help develop new tools to improve outcomes. Findings and technologies will be shared with institutions worldwide to enhance patient care among this population. This gift will also fund a dedicated staff member to become the new Charles Lazarus Innovator in Residence to oversee this work.
The Pediatric Implanted Neurostimulation Program will launch in September 2025 and the trial is expected to begin in January 2026.
The Lazarus family helped establish Charles Lazarus Children’s Abilities Center in 2021, giving $5 million in the memory of Charles Lazarus to provide and advance innovative and affordable therapies for children’s rehabilitation, and honor the spirit of innovation that he lived for.
Charles Lazarus was passionate about bringing joy to the lives of children around the world, which fueled both his career and his philanthropic endeavors in support of children’s well-being. As he built Toys “R” Us into a global retail phenomenon, Mr. Lazarus was inspired by the world around him and always driven by a single goal: to put a smile on a child’s face.
"We are so grateful to be able to contribute in some small way to the miraculous science Dr. Putrino is spearheading. Our dad's life was devoted to kids. What could be a more precious gift,” says the family of Charles Lazarus.
For more information on The Charles Lazarus Children’s Abilities Center of Mount Sinai click on the link below:
https://icahn.mssm.edu/research/charles-lazarus-childrens-abilities-center
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