Research News

Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic Rehabilitation Hospitals (CCRH) hosted the first Joint Venture Rehabilitation Research Symposium on Sept. 30. Guests from throughout the country and across disciplines convened on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus to share research advances and projects in critical illness recovery and inpatient rehabilitation. 

The event celebrated the early successes of the partnership of Cleveland Clinic and CCRH with Select Medical Network, one of the largest providers of critical illness recovery, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation in the U.S. The partnership is designed to accelerate patient care through communication across academic, clinical and foundation partners.  

“It was a joy to witness just how far this research joint venture for rehabilitation has come in the short span of just over a year,” says Ela Plow, PhD, CCRH’s Director of Research. “My partners and I are overjoyed and humbled by the accomplishments of our clinician scientists who innovate, create and dedicate themselves to the cause of the joint venture.”

The symposium welcomed more than 60 guests, including representation from Cleveland Clinic Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R), Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy. Attendees also included members from the California Rehabilitation Institute and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, as well as members of Select Medical’s national network which includes more than 30 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and 105 critical illness recovery hospitals.  

Francois Bethoux, MD, Chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s department of PM&R and Gabrielle DeLauter, MPH, Select Medical’s Director of Research, provided welcome addresses for the event. Dr. Emeka Okoro, the research program coordinator for CCRH, moderated. Presentations were led by the principal investigators leading joint research venture projects from Cleveland Clinic and CCRH, including:  

• A national educational intervention sponsored by Paralyzed Veterans of America to train and mentor clinicians on randomized control trials for acute/subacute rehabilitation after spinal cord injury
• A prospective study among stroke patients to determine the appropriate motor assessment tools that will predict patient outcome at discharge and 90 days post-stroke
• A retrospective study to determine the pattern of interventions among Parkinson’s disease patients, relationship to management guidelines and effect on patient outcome in rehabilitation facilities 

“We are excited the symposium connected clinicians, academics, administrators and leaders from organizations with excellence in inpatient rehabilitation and critical illness recovery,” Dr. Plow says. “Research and clinical care are the cornerstones of our health system. The symposium served to bridge the gap between the two to elevate our standards of care and take rehabilitation to the next frontier.”

Caption information: 

Front row: (L-R) Gabrielle Delauter (Select Medical); Teale Bennett, Cleveland Clinic; Francois Bethoux, Cleveland Clinic; Jessica Gumucio, Cleveland Clinic

Middle row (L-R): Susan Linder, Cleveland Clinic; Deborah Hogue, CCRH; Catherine Holt, CCRH; Sarah Morgano, CCRH; Kristin Velovitch, CCRH; Emeka Okoro, CCRH

Back row (L-R): Michael Chapple, Regency Hospital Cleveland East, CCRH; Ela Plow, Cleveland Clinic, CCRH; Robert Phillips, CCRH; Elliot Barden, Cleveland Clinic; Virginia Sullivan, Cleveland Clinic; Morgan Widina, Cleveland Clinic