2012 Annual Report
Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, and Trevor Dyson-Hudson, MD, were appointed directors of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Research and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research, respectively. Dr. Chiaravalloti also serves as director of Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research and project director of the Northern New Jersey TBI Model System (NNJTBIS). Her research interests include finding treatments to improve memory, learning, and processing speed. Dr. Dyson-Hudson also serves as director of Outcomes and Assessment Research at the Foundation and project co-director of the Northern New Jersey SCI Model System (NNJSCIS). His interests include restoring function and mobility as well as preventing further complications of SCI. Both have faculty appointments at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
ADVANCING COGNITIVE RESEARCH
Cognitive research at Kessler Foundation improves thinking, learning, and memory in people with TBI, MS, and other conditions. Researchers also examine how the brain changes after treatment. Highlights include:
• With a $44,000 grant from the National MS Society, Research Scientist Victoria Leavitt, PhD, is studying the effects of intellectual enrichment on cognitive decline in people with MS. Individuals use iPads to engage in home-based activities, such as reading, puzzle solving, and games, for 12 weeks. Dr. Leavitt correlates improvements in cognition with changes in brain activity. Previously, Research Scientist James Sumowski found that individuals who have a history of a mentally enriching lifestyle are better protected against cognitive decline associated from MS—known as the theory of cognitive reserve. “While we typically build cognitive reserve during school years, the study will examine if people with MS can build their reserve after diagnosis,” said Dr. DeLuca. The findings may prove that intervention can prevent the effects of decline.”
Kessler Foundation welcomed Guang Yue, PhD, as director of Human Performance and Engineering Research as well as Mooyeon Oh-Park, MD, as assistant director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research—an inaugural position. Dr. Yue is interested in how the brain controls movement as well as how the central nervous system reacts to injury, disease, and medical intervention. Dr. Oh-Park has expertise in investigating the impact of mobility problems on function in aging and in the methodology of gathering self-report and self-awareness data after stroke.
IN 2012, KESSLER FOUNDATION SCIENTISTS SECURED $11.7 MILLION IN NEW EXTERNAL GRANT FUNDING — THE MOST FUNDING IN ONE YEAR TO DATE — TO ADVANCE COGNITIVE AND MOBILITY RESEARCH STUDIES AND CHANGE THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.
ADVANCING RESOURCES
• Dr. Chiaravalloti found increases in brain activation in people with MS after just ten weekly sessions of cognitive rehabilitation. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to document brain activation patterns before and after memory retraining, she found that greater activation was associated with improved memory performance. These findings may support third-party reimbursement for cognitive rehabilitation.
• With a two-year, $366,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Yue uses MRI to study the cognitive effects of chemotherapy. “We anticipate that this research will yield significant information regarding structural and physiological causes of the neurological side effects of chemotherapy,” said Dr. Yue. “This will help us devise better ways to manage symptoms...and may encourage the development of safer drugs.”
• Director of Stroke Research A.M. Barrett, MD, Research Scientist Peii Chen, PhD, and colleagues advanced research on the effects of prism adaptation on treating spatial neglect—a perceptual problem caused by a disconnect between the brain and the eye that affects up to 70 percent of stroke survivors. With a three-year, $595,800 grant from NIDRR, Dr. Barrett looks to establish clinical guidelines to better detect and manage spatial neglect, which is likely to reduce accidents and optimize independence among affected patients. The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey also awarded a $145,000 grant to provide home-based prism therapy to stroke survivors in the Newark, NJ area.
Research Scientist Victoria Leavitt, PhD, demonstrated for the first time that outdoor temperature significantly impacts cognitive function in people with MS. Over a calendar year, individuals with MS scored 70 percent higher on memory and processing tests during cooler months. “This information is relevant to making life decisions and choosing therapies and evaluating their effects,” said Dr. Leavitt.
