The West Orange, NJ-based Kessler Foundation reports that thanks to external grant funding in 2012, it is now primed to continue its research efforts to improve quality of life for individuals with disabilities. The $10.8 million in funding, the Foundation says, represents the highest-ever annual total in its history.
Rodger DeRose, Foundation president and CEO, notes that, “This record research funding—in this competitive economic environment—illustrates the respect for Kessler Foundation scientists within the medical research community and underscores the evolving role of Kessler Foundation in developing better ways to overcome disability of cognition and mobility. DeRose adds that the role John DeLuca, PhD, vice president for research and training, Kessler Foundation, has played in the Foundation is key to the growth of scope and influence of the Foundation’s research. “Under his leadership, our scientists are advancing the understanding of disabilities of cognition and mobility and developing new ways to rehabilitate people disabled by stroke, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and injuries to the brain and spinal cord,” DeRose says.
The Foundation reports that its top funders include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Education/National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the New Jersey Commissions on Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research, clinical research organizations, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and local organizations such as the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.
The grants from these and other organizations is slated to fund comprehensive rehabilitation services for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, a study focused on the optimal treatment for hidden disabilities in survivors of right-sided stroke, and a study centered on the role of environmental factors in rehabilitation outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injury.
Additional studies funded by the external grants include a study to measure the cognitive effects of the use of iPads to provide intellectual enrichment in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), research encompassing the role personality, coping, and health-related behaviors play in the unemployment of individuals with MS, and a study designed to pinpoint approaches to improving cognitive function following TBI.
Source: Kessler Foundation
