The important roles of functional imaging in medical rehabilitation research are recognized in the Research Plan of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR). The merits of multidisciplinary research activities is apparent in the Goals and Research Opportunities section of the Research Plan, but until now functional neuroimaging research and medical rehabilitation research typically have progressed as disparate activities. The two disciplines need a better understanding of the capabilities of functional neuroimaging as related to the important unsolved problems in medical rehabilitation research to facilitate clinical applications of research results. A scientific workshop will be held for this purpose and also to engender collaborative multidisciplinary activities between neuroimagers and rehabilitation researchers. A three day scientific workshop will be held under the auspices of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine on May 23-25, 1993, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The meeting will be planned by an organizing committee comprised of persons recognized as leaders in the science and techniques of functional neuroimaging, the basic and clinical neurosciences, and medical rehabilitation research. The scientific program for the workshop is designed to focus on the impact of functional neuroimaging on the priority areas in medical rehabilitation research described in the NCMRR Research Plan. The program format includes formal presentations and structured discussion sessions wherein approximately 50 experts in functional neuroimaging and medical rehabilitation research will address four of the vital roles functional neuroimaging is expected to have in medical rehabilitation-research. These are: generating basic scientific knowledge of brain function indices related to specific disabilities, whatever the cause; locating the foci in the brain, spinal cord and/or the peripheral nervous system related to the disability; monitoring the changes over time of the lesions causing disability and of the disability itself; and, measuring the outcomes and effectiveness of surgical, pharmacological and medical rehabilitation interventions. The published proceedings of the workshop will be made available to investigators in functional imaging, medical rehabilitation research and basic neuroscience.
