UAB part of White House spinal injury-rehab meeting

A UAB researcher will attend a White House briefing on spinal cord-injury rehab research.

Amie Jackson, M.D., chair of the UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, will attend a White House briefing Nov. 8, 2011, to hear recommendations from a State of the Science meeting on spinal cord-injury rehabilitation research held in Washington.

amie_jackson_2009_1Jackson is principal investigator for UAB’s Spinal Cord Injury Model System, the only system of care that has been continually recognized as a Model System since its creation via Congressional Act in 1970. Today, UAB-SCIMS is one of 14 national SCI Model Systems programs funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

The UAB-SCIMS works to maintain and improve a cost-effective, comprehensive service delivery system for people who incur a spinal cord injury. A Model System must demonstrate outstanding care to individuals with spinal cord injury, from emergency medical services to acute care in the hospital to rehabilitation.

UAB is also home to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, which has been federally funded at UAB since 1984. The center recently received a new five-year renewal grant.