Myrna F. Schwartz, PhD
Mryna Schwartz, PhD, co-founder of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, recently discussed best practices in aphasia care as part of the Aphasia Access Conversations podcast series.
In a conversation with Janet Patterson, PhD, Dr. Schwartz discussed the role of ethics and institutional review in clinical research activities that involve people with aphasia.
Dr. Schwartz headed MRRI’s Language and Aphasia Laboratory for many years.
Dylan J. Edwards, PhD, has accepted the position of director of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI) starting in August of 2018. He will replace John Whyte, MD, PhD, who has brilliantly led the research enterprise at MossRehab for the past 25 years and announced his decision to retire from the director position at the end of 2018. Continue Reading
Public radio station WHYY recently took an in-depth look into aphasia that featured interviews with experts from MossRehab’s Aphasia Center and members of its “Conversation Cafes.”
“While there are no guarantees about where you will end up in your recovery, opportunities for rehabilitation and opportunities for improving and increasing communication skills are lifelong,” Aphasia Center Director Sharon Antonucci, PhD, told the radio show The Pulse. Antonucci emphasized that recovery from aphasia can continue years after a stroke. Continue Reading
During stroke rehabilitation, therapists and physicians traditionally start patients with simple skills and then slowly build to more complex activities. The idea is to begin slowly and move to more demanding activities as the patient seems ready. Is there a more effective approach?
In this video, Shailesh Kantak, PhD, shares his research suggesting that patients could move to complex activities more quickly. Continue Reading
MossRehab’s Drucker Brain Injury Unit and the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI)—both part of Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia—recently received their renewal grant for the 5th time from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) to continue as a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model System.
The highly competitive grant and classification as a Model System is earned for excellence in both the treatment and the research related to a particular disability. Specifically, a TBI Model System must demonstrate a strong track record of excellent clinical care and treatment, carrying out a program of research on outcome prediction and treatment, and having a superior record of publications, presentations and other knowledge dissemination and teaching on TBI rehabilitation.
Receiving the grant renewal for the fifth straight cycle means the MossRehab TBI Model System has been continuously funded since 1997, making the renowned facility one of only two to hold the designation continuously for 25 years. (The other is Ohio State University.) Continue Reading
Tessa Hart, PhD
The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) has recognized Tessa Hart, Ph.D., an institute scientist at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, as the recipient of the 2017 William Fields Caveness Award.
Each year, the William Fields Caveness Award is presented by BIAA in recognition of an individual who, through research on both a national and international level, has made outstanding contributions to bettering the lives of people with brain injury. The award was presented at the American Congress of Rehabilitative Medication (ACRM) annual conference, which was held October. 23-28 in Atlanta. Continue Reading
Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute is pleased to announce the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board. This group of distinguished scientists and physicians will provide strategic guidance on a range of issues, including programmatic development, funding opportunities, and clinical-research integration. Continue Reading
Two donors, Stewart and Sally Eisenberg, have decided to endow the Reta’s Games Group at the MossRehab Aphasia Center, in honor of their family matriarch, Reta Eisenberg.
Reta has been a tireless advocate for families living with aphasia for almost 30 years. She was instrumental in the founding of the Aphasia Center in 1996 after witnessing the impact aphasia had on her husband, Marty, prior to his death. Like others struggling with aphasia, Marty was unable to speak in full sentences, read a book, write his name, express basic needs such as hunger, and would use the wrong words or forget words when communicating – including the names of their children. Continue Reading
This year, the newly launched Shrier Family Topics in Rehabilitation Science Lecture Series will enable MossRehab’s dedicated physicians, nurses, therapists, research scientists and staff to enhance care through the practical application of translational research.
Marc and Nancy Shrier attended the most recent installment of the Shrier Family Topics in Rehabilitation Science Lecture Series with (far left, John Whyte, MD, PhD, founding Director of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI) and speaker speaker Steve Jax, PhD, Institute Scientist, MRRI.)
Thanks to a generous gift from long-time MossRehab and Einstein Healthcare Network champions, Nancy and Marc Shrier, clinicians will be able to share more widely the innovative research and pioneering rehabilitation technologies they are developing at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI). Devoted to improving the lives of individuals with neurological disabilities through research, MRRI is impacting rehabilitation therapies around the globe. Continue Reading
Amanda Rabinowitz, PhD, director of MRRI’s Brain Injury Neuropsychology Lab, along with John Whyte, PhD, MD, and collaborators at University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, contributed to a recently published study looking at the long-term effects of participation in high school football.
Amanda Rabinowitz, PhD
The study appeared in the journal JAMA Neurology. It was based on data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which has followed a random sample of Wisconsin class of 1957 high school graduates.
In a recent column in Scientific American, the study’s authors describe their results:
“We were surprised to find that playing high school football did not have a statistically significant harmful effect on later-life cognition and mental health in this sample. Moreover, it did not have an effect on anxiety, anger, hostility, or alcohol abuse later in life.” Continue Reading