The proposed AM Center is a collaboration between the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation (Kessler) and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ). The Center's theme will be rehabilitation from stroke. The proposed Center will 1) examine potential effectiveness and validity of AM therapies as applied to rehabilitation of stroke and related medical conditions, and 2) provide clinical, scientific and technical assistance to AM investigators as they develop research projects in that area. Projects will be supported in five of the AM Program Areas: nutrition and lifestyle modification; mind/body control therapies; structural manipulations; bioelectromagnetic therapies; and traditional and ethnomedicine therapies. The first four are described as already incorporated in existing clinical treatment and rehabilitation, and ethnomedicinals are described as shown successful in stroke. Kessler's stroke-patient base is large. Fifty percent is over age 65. They treat 1,000 persons per year as inpatients for stays of one month, and then for long-term follow-up. This patient population is proposed to be available for AM therapy evaluation. Rehabilitation is an environment for the evaluation of collaborative AM therapies as rehabilitation inherently involves therapeutic teams with members from diverse backgrounds. The Kessler multidisciplinary rehabilitation research training has four postdoctoral fellows doing research in AM. The Kessler-UMDNJ faculty of researchers and research-oriented clinicians has experience in collaborative research and mentoring. The proposed advisory committee of AM and conventional practitioners will provide guidance to the Center and liaison with regional and national constituents. The faculty will provide formal classroom and workshop training as well as informal consultation to AM practitioners and researchers regarding research and measurement issues. Training will involve: 1) Research Skills Training in the form of Kessler-based workshops and seminars and on-the-road workshops; 2) Cross-Discipline Awareness Training to AM and conventional providers; 3) Team Mentoring, with pilot research projects serving as training; 4) development of a postdoctoral training program in AM therapies for stroke rehabilitation. Research support will involve extensive advice and guidance to AM researchers, and the soliciting, review and award of small grants for pilot research projects. The applicants also propose development of a bibliographic resource center.
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