VA RR&D Center for Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)

Louis Stokes Cleveland Va Medical Center, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

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.