En Español | Plain Text Version | Skip Navigation

You are here:  Home > Funding & Research > Funding News > June 2004

Funding News - Research Partnerships for Improving Functional Outcomes Encouraged

Skip secondary menu

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) encourages grant applications for Research Partnerships for Improving Functional Outcomes for basic, applied, and translational multidisciplinary research on problems related to rehabilitation or health maintenance of individuals with acute or chronic disease. This announcement is made together with 8 other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).*

A "partnership" is a multidisciplinary research team that applies an integrative systems approach to develop knowledge and/or methods to improve function, promote health, and increase participation in community life. An increasing proportion of the nation's healthcare expenses is devoted to the care of individuals with chronic diseases and disorders, many of whom experience significant declines in their abilities to perform activities of daily living and to participate in community life. Effective rehabilitation solutions for these individuals may significantly improve the nation's use of increasingly constrained healthcare resources.

Examples of areas of research interest include studies to: develop and test the efficacy of symptom-focused or holistic/integrated therapies for high prevalence conditions that cause disability, including low back pain, stroke, hearing loss, visual loss, and congestive heart failure; determine the extent to which genetic, environmental, social, and psychological factors determine patient responses to specific rehabilitative interventions; investigate the processes, at a molecular level, that lead to formation of muscle and skin contractures that occur due to inactivity and chronic disease; define the optimal setting(s) and timing of rehabilitation strategies, optimal pain protocols, the role of passive range of motion, and the most cost-effective follow-up for patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgeries; develop algorithms that can be used to match available interventions and technologies to individual patients to optimize functional outcomes; develop and evaluate defined rehabilitation interventions based upon detailed biomechanical analyses of the patterns of muscle activation in specific conditions; and test methods to promote the dissemination of evidence-based rehabilitative therapies and technologies from the laboratory or clinic to community environments.

For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. Daofen Chen, Program Director, Channels, Synapses and Circuits Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2131, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: 301-496-1917; fax: 301-402-1501; e-mail: dc342b@nih.gov.

*For a full list of supporting NIH components and a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-04-077.html.

This content has been adapted from the original NINDS Notes publication. For the most up-to-date funding information, please visit the Funding Opportunities section of the NINDS web site.  For the most recent information on NINDS studies, please visit the NINDS Patient Recruitment web site.