Numerous recent advances in research
In Toronto Rehab’s various research labs, a diverse team of expert clinicians, researchers and scientists are consistently on the leading edge of rehabilitation science and practice, making new discoveries, and implementing best clinical practices. Today, the hospital’s research enterprise is the largest rehabilitation research program in Canada, and the second largest in North America.
Some examples of Toronto Rehab’s recent research advances include:
- New treatments to improve recovery from strokes
- Better understanding of how to maintain intellectual function over the long term following head injury
- The vital importance of detecting and treating sleep apnea to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack
- High-tech methods of ensuring handwashing
- Innovative devices to help lift and move patients more easily
- Artificial intelligence used to help people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias live with greater independence.
From plans to outcomes
"We’ve been conducting research at Toronto Rehab for eight years (since our research program was created with a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care), and we’re emerging from the first growth phase," Geoff says. "These days, I find our scientists talking more about their results, and less about plans and promise. I expect their language will shift further in the years to come to describing the impact of those results."
One of the keys to the success of Toronto Rehab’s research enterprise is its ability to fast-track research discoveries into clinical practice, enabling patients living with disabling illness and injury to benefit more quickly from the efforts of rehabilitation scientists and researchers. This work is supported by a growing network of Ontario-based industry partners that are helping to move innovations rapidly and effectively to market.
Operating funding a challenge
"The good news is that more public funds are becoming available for capital infrastructure projects," Geoff says. "The bad news is that the dollars needed to support ongoing research activity, conducted by an expanding talent pool of investigators in these new facilities, are harder to come by," explaining that operating grants awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for rehabilitation research cannot keep pace with the country’s growing research infrastructure. "Our researchers and scientists are achieving world-class results, but we fear many high quality research projects will be under funded or left unfunded altogether," Geoff cautions.
The hospital relies on a range of sources for research funding. In 2008/09, it successfully renewed its $3 million research grant with the MOHLTC, and gratefully accepted over $1 million in funds from the Toronto Rehab Foundation, thanks to the generosity of the Foundation donors. External research grants for peer reviewed projects totalled nearly $5 million, with operating funds of more than $430,000 provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Finally, to further strengthen its funding base, Toronto Rehab is strengthening its industry partnerships. "We’re working very hard to avoid letting funding constraints limit the advancement of rehabilitation science. We’re committed to bringing exciting new developments to market that will advance the quality of life for many Canadians."
A hopeful future
Geoff notes that there’s a real sense of excitement throughout Toronto Rehab, and researchers from around the world are increasingly asking the hospital’s scientists to present their findings at their meetings.
"Our groundbreaking iDAPT simulation facility (click here for details) and other new labs will open in 2011, and our collaboration with other leading rehabilitation centres will continue to dramatically expand," Geoff explains. "I predict that by 2015, we will be a leading centre in the world for the development of products and treatments that enable people to live happily in their own homes as they age, and that return people to full participation following an injury and illness."
Key successes in 2008/09
In early 2008, the Toronto Rehab research team underwent its second assessment by the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC). This independent committee, composed of distinguished world experts in the field of rehabilitation research, provides an objective assessment of the hospital’s research program and advises on direction to accelerate future growth. In its April 2008 report, the committee found "Dr. Fernie’s leadership, vision, willingness to implement change, and the accomplishments of the research endeavours at TRI to be remarkable," and gave him an A+ rating. (Click here to view or download the 2008/09 ISAC report).
Members of the research team published a total of 204 papers in peer reviewed journals, spanning a wide range of rehabilitation related topics.
You can read all about Toronto Rehab’s research in Cre8ive Solutions, a comprehensive and ‘public-friendly’ Report on Rehabilitation Research at the hospital. (click here to view or download). Some highlights from the Cre8ive Solutions report include:
‘Getting up and doing something’ about sleep apnea
Dr. Douglas Bradley, a senior investigator and director of the Sleep Research Laboratory at Toronto Rehab, recently discovered that obstructive sleep apnea – a condition affecting 10 to 15 percent of North American adults that’s strongly linked to high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke and heart attack – is caused by an accumulation of fluids in the legs. Dr. Bradley’s suggested remedy: to ‘get up and do something’ during the day to help your calf muscles pump fluids up toward the heart. He will lead a multi-million dollar clinical trial, involving 40 sites in eight countries, to test the effectiveness of a new intervention for treating sleep apnea in patients with congestive heart failure.Stimulation is key to recovery from traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause people to lose their ability to think clearly, create problems with mood and personality, and even result in death. Dr. Robin Green – a clinical neurologist, head of the Cognitive Neurorehabilitation Sciences Lab at Toronto Rehab, and leader of the social and cognitive sciences field of the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Toronto – guest-edited a special December 2008 supplement in the prestigious Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation journal that contained 11 papers presenting research conducted by Dr. Green and her Toronto Rehab colleagues. One prominent expert said the landmark research series "is likely to have far reaching consequences for the lives of people with TBI and their families throughout the world."Performance highlights
Research Centre of Excellence
| Initiative | Performance Highlights |
|---|---|
| Begin to implement a program of gait and balance assessments for patients with stroke |
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| Complete the design of the first intelligent hand hygiene system for introduction to the market within a year, and launch clinical trials |
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| Launch two studies on the value of research intensification |
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