WASHINGTON --Three new centers in Boston, New York and Miami will spearhead research for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the development of artificial retinas to restore sight to blind veterans and new therapies for people with spinal cord injury.
The new facilities, with a combined budget of more than $11.1 million over five years, join nine other VA “Centers of Excellence.” VA’s research centers have been credited with major advances in wheelchair design, functional electrical stimulation, hearing aids, prosthetics and other areas.
“With these centers, VA is building upon its long history of accomplishments in medical research and using the latest medical knowledge to improve the lives of our veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.
The first new facility is the Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation at the Jamaica Plains VA Medical Center in Boston. Working with researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, HarvardMedicalSchool, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, VA researchers hope to develop new technologies and surgical methods to ease the burden of eye disease and blindness.
The second new center at the Bronx VA Medical Center will be called the Center for Anabolic Therapies in Spinal Cord Injury. It will explore the use of drugs to treat the secondary disabilities of spinal cord injury (SCI).
The third center, the Center of Excellence in Functional Recovery in Chronic Spinal Cord Injury at the Miami VA Medical Center, will study pain management, recovery of motor and sensory function, and other areas of critical importance to SCI patients.
“These new centers will strengthen VA’s position at the forefront of rehabilitation research,” said Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite, VA’s Under Secretary for Health. “We can expect significant advances that will improve the quality of life for veterans -- and all Americans -- who suffer from vision loss, spinal cord injury and related impairments.”
VA funds about $32 million each year in research related to rehabilitation, part of an annual VA medical research budget of $351 million.
