Mount Sinai Awarded Prestigious Designation and $2.3 Million Grant for Spinal Cord Injury Program

Newswise — (New York, NY – September 20, 2021) – Mount Sinai’s Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance has become the only program in New York State to receive a prestigious award to support its exceptional, comprehensive care for spinal cord injury patients and dedication to improving treatment options for this population. 

The Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant from the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research is valued at $2.3 million over the next five years. Mount Sinai is one of 14 sites across the country to have this designation.

“We are so proud and excited about our continued designation as a Spinal Cord Injury Model System. This is a reflection of our world-renowned expertise, patient care, and research for persons with spinal cord injury,” says Joseph Herrera, DO, Lucy G. Moses Professor and Chair of the Mount Sinai Health System’s Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance.

The model system award recognizes Mount Sinai’s comprehensive and state-of-the-art care for spinal cord injury patients during all phases of treatment. Specifically, Specifically, Mount Sinai rehabilitation teams are among the few in the United States that care for patients from the time they arrive at the Emergency Department, through intensive care and surgery, followed by acute rehabilitation, transitioning from hospital to home, and outpatient rehabilitation, along with support groups, support services, and continued medical care extending throughout life.

Approximately 17,900 people in the United States sustain a new spinal cord injury each year. Car crashes are the leading cause of injury, followed by falls, acts of violence (primarily gunshot wounds), and sports activities. This grant will help the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai expand upon its current research to better understand how to best treat patients with spinal cord injuries in so they can achieve the best recovery possible and return to having active and productive lives.

Mount Sinai will also partner with other Model System centers to conduct collaborative research projects that will advance the understanding of how spinal cord injury affects people’s lives and to evaluate new interventions that can have a positive effect both on neurological and functional recovery as well as community integration.

Under the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant, Mount Sinai will also conduct one local research project to evaluate a novel approach to clinical inpatient treatment. Experts plan to investigate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of transcutaneous (non-invasive) spinal cord stimulation on stabilizing blood pressure after spinal cord injury.

“This grant will allow us to continue over the next five years to provide world-class spinal cord injury care to individuals in the New York region as well as to conduct cutting-edge spinal cord injury research,” said Thomas Bryce, MD, Professor of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at Icahn Mount Sinai.  

This Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant was funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services #90SIMS0003. It runs from 2021 through 2026.   Mount Sinai was awarded a previous Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant in 2016 which lasted five years.

For more information on the spinal cord injury research program at Mount Sinai, visit www.MountSinaiSCI.org.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. We advance medicine and health through unrivaled education and translational research and discovery to deliver care that is the safest, highest-quality, most accessible and equitable, and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 free-standing joint-venture centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the top 20 U.S. hospitals and among the top in the nation by specialty: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Urology, and Rehabilitation. Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” among the country’s best in four out of 10 pediatric specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked among the Top 20 nationally for ophthalmology. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools," aligned with a U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" Hospital, and No. 14 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside as top 20 globally, and “The World’s Best Specialized Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Heart as No. 1 in New York and No. 5 globally and the Division of Gastroenterology as No. 5 globally. For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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