$15 MILLION AWARD FOR RESEARCH TO FIND TREATMENT AND CURE
FOR SPINAL CORD INJURY AND PARALYSIS ANNOUNCED
Grant award will support "Center of Research Excellence"

A five-year $15 million grant for research aimed at promoting bench-to-bedside translations of promising approaches to spinal cord repair, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for spinal cord injury paralysis was announced by the Department of Health.

The award, which marks the fourth round of New York State grants to fund spinal cord injury research, will support a Center of Research Excellence that includes leading scientists from institutions across New York State and their collaborators at research centers elsewhere, such as MIT, Baylor University, Ohio State University, Rutgers University and the University of Michigan. The award is made through the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Trust Fund, established by Governor Pataki in 1998.

Governor Pataki said, "This Center for Research Excellence reflects our very real and growing hope that we can move beyond the basic laboratory research and rehabilitation and find a cure that will improve the quality of life for all Americans coping courageously with paralysis. For the estimated 16,000 New Yorkers living with paralysis and other effects of spinal cord injury, that day cannot come soon enough. With rapid medical and technological advances, our funding helps provide needed resources to the best scientific minds in the nation as they work to find a cure for spinal cord injuries."

The Trust Fund helps underwrite innovative, groundbreaking research that will improve the quality of life and ultimately lead to a cure for individuals who are coping with paralysis. New York is the first state in the nation to establish a fund dedicated solely to finding a cure for spinal cord injuries, and also provides more funding than any other state for this critical research. A surcharge on automobile moving violations brings in $8.5 million annually to support projects that outside scientific review panels and the Board select.

The Board is composed of top scientists, physicians and advocates dedicated to spinal cord research. It is chaired by Dr. Moses V. Chao, of the New York University Medical Center. Other SCIRB members include retired New York State Police Sergeant Paul Richter. The late Christopher Reeve was also a member. Both were prime advocates behind the legislation that created the Board and Trust fund.

Other board members are Allen L. Carl, MD, Albany Medical Center; Lorne Mendell, Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook; Mary E. Hatten, Ph.D., The Rockefeller University; Deborah A. Hrustich, MD, Albany-Troy Neurosurgical Associates; Barbara S. Koppel, MD, Metropolitan Hospital Center; David S. Whalen, Esq., Spinal Cord Society; and Jonathan Wolpaw, MD of the Wadsworth Center in the State Department of Health.

As a result of the first three SCIRP grant competitions, 34 outstanding multi-year research projects have been funded, to date. A SCIRB-funded strategic plan for spinal cord injury research is also underway at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Since the creation of the Trust Fund in 1999, almost $20 million has been awarded for important research, including over $8 million last year, alone. The Board makes awards based on the scientific and technical merits of proposals as well as their relevance to the treatment and potential cure of spinal cord injury paralysis. Its Executive Director is Martin D. Sorin, Ph.D. of the Wadsworth Center.

State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. said, "When Governor Pataki created the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Board and Trust Fund, it was with the sole purpose of supporting innovative scientific ideas and approaches that will lead to a breakthrough in curing spinal cord injury paralysis. Thanks to the Governor's foresight and commitment to spinal cord injury research, New York is leading the nation in providing important resources for spinal cord injury research."

The principal investigator of the new Center for Research Excellence is Rajiv R. Ratan, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Winifred Masterson Burke Medical Research Institute, which is affiliated with the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. His co-principal investigators are Mark Noble, Ph.D., University of Rochester Medical Center, and Marie Filbin, Ph.D., Hunter College (CUNY). Joining them in the consortium are investigators from MIT, Weill Medical College, Acorda Therapeutics, Columbia University, New York Medical College, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Baylor University, Ohio State University, Rutgers University and Helen Hayes Hospital.