The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine is looking to partner with other industry organizations. View opportunity information below.
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury Care Line
MEDVAMC is one of the largest facilities in the national VA Medical Center system. Located on a 118-acre campus and built in 1991, MEDVAMC is a state-of-the-art facility, with 357 acute care beds, a 40-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center (currently under expansion to 50 beds), and a 141 bed Community Living Center (like a community skilled nursing facility).
Spinal Cord Injury Care Line
The Spinal Cord Injury Care Line was established to restore and maintain maximal health, independence, productivity, and quality of life of veterans with SCI. This includes: rehabilitation after an acute injury or illness; advanced or focused rehabilitation to address additional rehabilitation goals after the initial rehabilitation process; medical and surgical management of acute and chronic medical complications through the SCI outpatient clinic, SCI home care program, and the SCI inpatient units; and long-term follow-up of medical and rehabilitation needs and preventive health maintenance through annual examinations. The SCI Care Line supports developing and implementing innovative treatment methods derived from continuing education and research.
The SCI Care Line is located on the first floor of the facility (Nursing Units 1A and 1B). It also includes the SCI Outpatient Clinic, SCI Home Care Program, Urodynamics Lab, Occupational Therapy Clinic, Physical Therapy and Kinesiotherapy Clinic, Therapeutic Pool, and a Transitional Living Apartment for training. The DeBakey VA SCI Center is within the VA’s Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders (SCI&D) system of care, servicing the South Central VA Health Care Network (VISN 16). The center provides care to Veterans and active duty personnel.
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Industry- Sponsored Research Application
We would be interested in partnering with industry in the following areas:
- Machine learning projects necessitating big data of persons with SCI. As the largest integrated system of care for persons with SCI in the nation, the VA has invested in robust databases, including the newly formed SCI/D registry.
- Virtual reality for common chronic conditions after SCI (pain, anxiety, depression).
- Novel technology to detect and or/treat pressure injuries after SCI
If you are interested in partnering with us complete our PM&R Sponsored Research Application.
SCI Leadership
Dr. Felicia Skelton serves as the site principal investigator, with other SCI physicians (Drs. S. Ann Holmes, Carol Bodenheimer, Maria Dajoyag-Mejia, Donna Huang and Walter Wade) serve as co-investigators as appropriate.
Dr. Skelton is an investigator at the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) at the MEDVAMC She holds an academic appointment of associate professor in the H. Ben Taub department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Skelton completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine, residency in rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington, where she served as chief resident, clinical fellowship in spinal cord injury medicine at BCM, and a VA health services research and development (HSR&D) post-doctoral fellowship through IQuESt. She is currently funded by a VA HSR&D Career Development Award aimed to develop best practices on urine testing and treatment after SCI. She is also currently or has recently been funded as a co-investigator on five studies funded by VA, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiative or the Health Resources and Services Administration. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications and national presentations on her research, clinical care and education, including speaking about her passion of reducing health disparities by recruiting, training, hiring and promoting women and underrepresented minorities into medicine, so that the workforce better reflects the population it serves.
