About Us
As a Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS), we focus on the full range of needs of people with spinal cord injuries by providing all levels of care, and by conducting innovative research and education.
U-M SCIMS operates within the University of Michigan Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, ranked one of the best in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2010.
The University of Michigan has been designated as a Spinal Cord Injury Model System since 1985 by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Our currently funded grant cycle started in 2006 and runs through 2016: our NIDRR project number is H133N110002.
Our Objectives
- To conduct both site-specific and joint research studies about spinal cord injury (SCI) and distribute the findings from this research through publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations.
- To provide information about the findings of important new research conducted elsewhere through our SCI Lecture Series.
- To be involved in a continuum of comprehensive clinical services, beginning immediately after injury, proceeding through inpatient care, and continuing after discharge from the hospital through the Department's outpatient clinics and various support services. We help develop, deliver and evaluate innovative service programs to address the physical and psychosocial needs of people with SCI that are frequently unmet through traditional rehabilitation.
- To engage in outreach activities that promote full community participation. We do this though our partnership with community agencies, in particular the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.
- To pool information about the experiences of our patients with those from the other 14 Spinal Cord Injury Model System, promoting large-scale longitudinal research on a variety of topics.
- To provide information regarding living effectively with SCI to our former patients, their family members, and other interested parties through our annual conference, SCI Access newsletter and other consumer-oriented publications.
