December 6 , 2002

According to some studies, an estimated 5.3 million Americans currently are living with disabilities resulting from some form of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Transportation-related incidents such as auto and bicycle accidents are the leading cause of TBI. Because research is an important way to understand the complexities of TBI, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and other Partners institutions, including the MGH, currently are conducting a TBI-focused comprehensive research and data-collecting program, which recently received federal funding from the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

The Spaulding/Partners Traumatic Brain Injury Model System at Harvard Medical School (HMS) is a partnership among Spaulding, the MGH, BWH, and associated HMS faculty. The goals of the collaboration include providing a comprehensive spectrum of clinical care for people with TBI; participating in the collection of acute care, rehabilitation, and follow-up data as part of a national database; and conducting research studies on outcomes and rehabilitation of people with TBI.

Cary Savage, PhD, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group for MGH Psychiatry, is the principal investigator for the research portion of the collaboration, which is based at CNY. His research uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, a technique largely developed at the MGH, to look at brain activity in TBI patients during memory testing as a predictor of clinical outcome of outpatient cognitive rehabilitation.