This proposal seeks funding for the sixth cycle of our training program in Pathophysiology and Rehabilitation of Neural Dysfunction (PRND). The program is directed by Dr. Eric Perreault, PhD, and co-directed by Drs. Lee Miller, PhD and Todd Kuiken, MD, PhD. Trainees will be mentored by 28 highly collaborative scientists working in areas from cellular neurophysiology, to engineering, to clinical medicine; all conduct research with an emphasis on rehabilitation from neural dysfunction. The specific objectives of our program are to train rehabilitation scientists who understand the broad spectrum of problems confronting people with neurologic disabilities and who possess the clinical, scientific and quantitative skills to alleviate the burden on this growing population. The program is based at Northwestern University, in close collaboration with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. These institutions have a long history of cutting-edge rehabilitation research, to which our program has contributed. Over the life of the PRND program, 43 predoctoral fellows, 30 postdoctoral fellows, and 10 summer interns have been supported financially. Many of these trainees are now established leaders in the field of rehabilitation medicine. In this renewal application, we seek to build on our past achievements and increase our impact through enhancements that will broaden the community of scientists we reach, refine the clinical component of our training program, and strengthen the professional development opportunities for our trainees. We propose to train three predoctoral fellows, three postdoctoral fellows and two summer interns. This is an increase of one postdoctoral fellow and one intern over our current levels. The postdoctoral increase is dedicated to expanding our training pool to MDs. This expansion is aimed at facilitating the translational component of our research program, and increasing the clinical exposure of all trainees. The increase in one summer intern is in acknowledgment of the highly successful summer program we have developed since our last renewal, and the fact that these short-term internships have been useful for recruiting and retaining underrepresented minorities. All predoctoral trainees will be selected from applicants in the departments of biomedical and mechanical engineering, from which there is an abundant and growing applicant pool. Postdoctoral fellows may join from these departments as well as an additional 6 departments in medicine and engineering in which our mentors have primary appointments. All trainees, regardless of level, will complete two years of training in our program. By integrating the proposed innovations with the successful practices we already have in place, we expect to continue advancing the science and practice of rehabilitation medicine by training the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders.
This proposal seeks funding for the sixth cycle of our training program in Pathophysiology and Rehabilitation of Neural Dysfunction (PRND). The specific objectives are to train rehabilitation scientists who understand the broad spectrum of problems confronting people with neurologic disabilities, and who possess the clinical, scientific and quantitative skills to alleviate the burden on this growing population.
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