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National Grant Awarded to Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to Continue the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model System

Newswise — (New York, NY – October 18, 2017) The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) has awarded the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Brain Injury Research Center a five-year grant totaling $2.2 million to fund the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model System at Mount Sinai to study traumatic brain injury (TBI).  

NIDILRR awards TBI Model Systems grants to 16 institutions in the United States that are national leaders in research and clinical care for TBI. TBI Model System centers provide the highest level of comprehensive clinical care and multidisciplinary rehabilitation for individuals with TBI from the point of injury through community re-entry.

The grant will fund the work of researchers from the Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai who will contribute to the largest study of TBI outcomes in the world, curated by the NIDILRR-funded TBI Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center. Together, the TBI Model Systems have enrolled over 15,000 individuals with TBI and followed them over time for up to 25 years. Under this award, the Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai will test the effectiveness of an internet-delivered neurobehavioral intervention to improve emotional regulation after TBI, and will continue its research on the long-term neurocognitive effects of TBI. The New York TBI Model System also provides information and resources to individuals with TBI, their families, health care providers, and the general public.

“This award recognizes the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and our Brain Injury Research Center as one of the premier centers for the treatment and research of traumatic brain injuries,” says Joseph E. Herrera, DO, System Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine..  “Even more importantly, this is recognition of our commitment to discover treatments that will maximize functioning quality of life for those living with TBI and their families.”

Established in 1987, the Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai has conducted research that has greatly expanded the medical community’s understanding of the long-term challenges of living with TBI and the best approaches to leading better lives after injury.  

“Thanks to the ongoing support of the NIDILRR, our researchers have the opportunity to continue advancing scientific knowledge about the challenges faced by those who sustain a traumatic brain injury, to test innovative new treatment methods, and help improve the health and well-being of our patients,” says Kristen Dams-O’Connor, PhD, Director of The Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai and Project Director of the New York TBI Model System.  “Our work will benefit our patients here in New York, but will also stretch beyond our state borders, as the knowledge gained through this project will be shared with clinicians and researchers worldwide.”

About the Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City’s largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai’s vision is to provide the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report’s “Honor Roll” of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation’s top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 “Best Hospitals” issue. Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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