Rehabilitation Researchers Awarded $4.6M Grant

A team of rehabilitation scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Delaware has been awarded a $4.6 million, five-year grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research.

The award funds the ACT4Rehab (Advancing Clinical Translational science for Rehabilitation ) K12 Research Career Development Program, which addresses the need for more efficient and impactful research informing clinical rehabilitation practices so that patients can benefit from receiving the most effective methods of care.

The nationwide program will train and mentor early career occupational therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation medicine scientists who will lead research programs focused on positively impacting the lives of people in need of rehabilitation services.

Learn more about the ACT4Rehab program from the lead multiple principal investigator (MPI) Elizabeth Skidmore, in her own words.

What is the ultimate goal of your program?

There are several innovations in rehabilitation science that face barriers and delays to implementation in practice. Some of these challenges can be addressed by training rehabilitation scientists differently. Engaging key shareholders—community members and their families, rehabilitation providers, health system administrators, and payors and policy makers—early in the process of scientific planning and discovery can go a long way to ensuring that scientific innovations are developed with the end use, or translation to practice, in mind.

In addition, gathering data about factors influencing translation, in parallel with rigorous study of mechanisms and outcomes associated with new innovations, may potentially shorten the timeline and potential impact of translation.

A Black woman sits on a yoga mat with other people on a grassy field

Why is this program so important to the public?

Many rehabilitation science discoveries have the potential to substantially improve the quality of life for people living with the functional consequences of illness or injury. However, these discoveries are often not well-integrated into everyday rehabilitation practice for a variety of reasons.

For example, research conducted in Pennsylvania and Delaware provides some of the world’s most highly cited research on rehabilitation practices for low back pain, total joint replacement, brain injury, spinal cord injury and stroke. However, people receiving rehabilitation services in these states often face barriers in receiving best practices informed by this research.

By training scientists to study and address these barriers in the early stages of intervention development, we may be more effective and efficient in translating evidence-based practices to clinical settings.

What kinds of people are on your team and what will they bring to the project?

A graphic shows headshots of two men on the left and right and a woman in the center — (center) Elizabeth Skidmore, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences associate dean for research, and professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Pittsburgh; (left) Michael Boninger, distinguished professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh; (right) Gregory Hicks, distinguished professor of health sciences, associate vice president for clinical and translational research, and principle investigator and director, Clinical Translational ACCEL Program, University of Delaware.

ACT4Rehab is led by occupational therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation medicine scientists and leaders who have extensive experience in conducting rehabilitation research and mentoring early career scientists. These include:

Elizabeth Skidmore, PhD, OTR/L, contact MPI. University of Pittsburgh, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Occupational Therapy.
Michael Boninger, MD, PhD, MPI. University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Gregory Hicks, PT, PhD, MPI. University of Delaware, Department of Physical Therapy.

Our leaders at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Delaware, as well as partners at the University of Colorado Anschutz, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Washington and Washington University, are ideal to build and mentor this national network of faculty scholars.

We represent faculty scientists across all three disciplines who do research representing the full translational continuum of rehabilitation research. We are also all located in institutions with rich resources in clinical translational research training and implementation science centers of excellence. Early career faculty scientists who will be trained in this program will be recruited from universities and health systems across the nation.

What excites you the most about this project?

I love training early career scientists. I had outstanding early career training. In fact, Dr. Hicks and I were in the first cohort of early career faculty scientists trained in the Comprehensive Opportunities for Rehabilitation Research Training (CORRT) K12 program, a precursor to the ACT4Rehab program, almost 20 years ago. So, we see this program as an opportunity to pay it forward. Dr. Boninger has a distinguished career as a mentor, and co-led the Rehabilitation Medical Scientist Training K12 program for many years.

By combining the strengths of these two highly successful programs and refocusing on updated study design and methodologies for current public health needs, we feel that we are part of a pivotal moment in the ongoing evolution of rehabilitation science.

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