Document text
Principal Investigator: Robert F. Kirsch
Organization: LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
Fiscal Year: 2024
Funding agency: Veterans Affairs
The Center on Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES Center) is a global leader in neurostimulation and
neuromodulation research that addresses the unmet rehabilitation needs of Veterans and civilians with
neurological, autonomic, psychiatric, pain, and other disorders. The Vision of the FES Center is to “transform
rehabilitation” by making truly substantial improvements in rehabilitation treatments and to develop novel,
effective rehabilitation treatments for unserved and underserved patient populations. The specific Mission of
the FES Center is to develop interventions based on external modulation of nervous systems to replace or
compensate for natural neural function lost due to neural disease or injury. Because the nervous system
directly controls or influences most body functions, and because FES systems "speak the language" of the
nervous system, FES can be used to address a broad range of neurological disorders. FES Center objectives
are purposely aligned with the clinical needs of Veterans and the priorities of the VA Rehabilitation R&D
Service. The scientific and administrative home of the FES Center is the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran
Affairs Medical Center, and an additional four institutions are included within the FES Center consortium: Case
Western Reserve University, MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals, and the Cleveland Clinic. The
FES Center nurtures and supports a multi-disciplinary research community by providing specialized shared
resources and infrastructure, leveraging its resources to have broad impact across a wide range of
rehabilitation challenges by enabling many investigator-led lines of rehabilitation research. The FES Center
attracts and maintains top research talent, strategically guides research directions to focus on Veteran
priorities, facilitates institutional synergies and individual collaborations, and provides unique support,
including: targeted infrastructure (e.g., equipment, laboratory space, statistical support, medical illustration,
bioethics guidance, rehabilitation needs assessments, clinical trials), local community building (through
seminars, retreats, social events, and “match making”), national leadership in rehabilitation research, and
strong connections to relevant industry and to VA and other translational research programs. FES Center
researchers perform cutting edge research across 5 different rehabilitation research thrusts: (1) Movement
Restoration, (2) Pain Mitigation, (3) Autonomic Restoration, (4) Brain Health, and (5) Translation and Clinical
Dissemination. These research thrusts cover a wide range of neurological disorders, and the FES Center
includes investigators with a matching wide range of expertise and clinical interests. The research thrusts
share several features, including (1) an understanding of the physiology and disorders of nervous systems, (2)
the fundamentals of activation-inactivation-modulation of nervous systems, (3) technology development to
provide practical solutions for these disorders in people, (4) computational tools such as modeling and
simulation and machine learning that help understand targeted systems and the likely effects of interventions,
and (5) translation and clinical dissemination of discoveries into the clinical community. Many investigators
work across two or more of these defined research thrusts, leading to significant synergy and cross-pollination
across the thrusts.
In summary, the FES Center “transforms rehabilitation” through the development and clinical
deployment of devices and techniques that make large and even “disruptive” improvements in the rehabilitation
outcomes for Veterans and civilians with neurological disorders. The FES Center fosters and sustains a rich,
transdisciplinary and highly collaborative community centered at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran Affairs
Medical Center but spread across 5 consortium members, and provides a wide range of services that facilitate
success of its investigators. FES Center investigators are highly successful, and the research directions for the
proposed 5 year cycle are creative, ambitious, and achievable.
Terms: <Address><Apoplexy><Bioethics><Biomedical Ethics><Bladder><Bladder Urinary System><Blood Pressure><Brain Vascular Accident><Cerebral Stroke><Cerebrovascular Apoplexy><Cerebrovascular Stroke><Clinic><Clinical><Clinical Trials><Collaborations><Communities><Compensation><Computational toolkit><Creativeness><Development><Development and Research><Devices><Disease><Disorder><Effectiveness><Engineering><Environment><Epilepsy><Epileptic Seizures><Epileptics><Equipment><Event><Fostering><Home><Individual><Industry><Inflammation><Infrastructure><Injury><Institution><Interdisciplinary Research><Interdisciplinary Study><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Intestinal><Intestines><Investigators><Laboratories><Language><Leadership><Machine Learning><Medical Illustration><Medical Rehabilitation><Medical center><Mental disorders><Mental health disorders><Mission><Movement><Multidisciplinary Collaboration><Multidisciplinary Research><Needs Assessment><Nerve Cells><Nerve Unit><Nervous System><Nervous System Diseases><Nervous System Disorder><Neural Cell><Neurocyte><Neurologic><Neurologic Body System><Neurologic Disorders><Neurologic Organ System><Neurological><Neurological Disorders><Neurons><Neurophysiology - biologic function><Pain><Painful><Paralysis Agitans><Parkinson><Parkinson Disease><Persons><Physiology><Primary Parkinsonism><Psychiatric Disease><Psychiatric Disorder><R & D><R&D><Rehabilitation><Rehabilitation Outcome><Rehabilitation therapy><Research><Research Personnel><Research Resources><Researchers><Resource Sharing><Resources><Scientist><Seizure Disorder><Services><Sight><Spinal Cord Trauma><Spinal Trauma><Spinal cord injured><Spinal cord injury><Stroke><System><Talents><Techniques><Technology><Translational Research Enterprise><Translations><Traumatic Myelopathy><United States Department of Veterans Affairs><United States Veterans Administration><Universities><University Hospitals><Veterans><Veterans Administration><Veterans Affairs><Vision><Work><body movement><bowel><brain attack><brain health><cerebral vascular accident><cerebrovascular accident><chronic pain><community building><community-centered><community-oriented><computational toolbox><computational tools><computational toolset><computerized tools><creativity><developmental><epilepsia><epileptogenic><functional electrical stimulation><functional electrostimulation><homes><improved><injuries><innovate><innovation><innovative><interest><intervention effect><interventional strategy><machine based learning><member><mental illness><model-based simulation><models and simulation><neural><neural control><neural function><neural regulation><neurological disease><neuromodulation><neuromodulatory><neuronal><neuroregulation><novel><patient population><psychiatric illness><psychological disorder><rehab research><rehab therapy><rehabilitation research><rehabilitative><rehabilitative outcome><rehabilitative therapy><research and development><restoration><social><stroked><strokes><success><synergism><tech development><technology development><translation><translation research enterprise><translational research program><urinary bladder><visual function>