New grant helps UF train scholars in rehabilitation research

The University of Florida and the University of Texas Medical Branch have received a $5 million National Institutes of Health grant to train future rehabilitation scientists.

The Rehabilitation Research Career Development Program will recruit and train 12 occupational and physical therapy scholars from across the nation to become independent investigators and scientific leaders in rehabilitation.

"If you look at the field of rehabilitation, we don't have a strong history of research and there are not enough faculty with this kind of research experience," said the program's deputy director Krista Vandenborne, Ph.D., P.T., chairwoman of the department of physical therapy at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. "This program will allow us to train the next generation of rehabilitation researchers."

The grant, the first of its kind devoted to scholar training in rehabilitation research, is funded by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research in the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development and by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. William Mann, Ph.D., O.T.R., chairman of the UF department of occupational therapy, will serve as the program's associate director. UF and UTMB's grant is one of two awarded nationally, the other going to a consortium of Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Delaware and the University of Pittsburgh.

The career development program will provide five years of support for six scholars who will train at UF and six who will train at UTMB. Trainees will choose which mentor they want to work with in one of several areas: neurological and cognitive rehabilitation; neuromuscular disease; assistive technology; respiratory physiology and rehabilitation; aging and geriatric rehabilitation; muscle biology and rehabilitation; and functional outcomes.

"The senior faculty members involved in this program come from all over campus," Vandenborne said. "We've invested a lot in transdisciplinary work at UF and we have a depth of resources and a great critical mass of faculty focused on rehabilitation, more than any other campus in the nation."

The rehabilitation scholars will also benefit from the training program's partnerships with national rehabilitation centers and the country's preeminent rehabilitation researchers who serve on the program's advisory board. The quality of training and networking opportunities created as part of this training program could place the scholars in an excellent position to move on to faculty positions at top universities, Vandenborne said.

"We want people who are well-positioned to succeed and will really benefit from the training and mentoring," she said. "We have the opportunity to bring in the best of the best and help them reach their potential."