VA Establishes Two New Neurotech Research Centers

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has established two new research facilities to investigate neural prosthesis and electrical stimulation technologies. The first new facility, the Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation, is located at the Jamaica Plains VA Medical Center in Boston. That center will employ researchers from nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary working on developing a visual prosthesis and new surgical techniques.

The second center, the Center of Excellence in Functional Recovery in
Chronic Spinal Cord Injury at the Miami VA Medical Center, will study pain
management, recovery of motor and sensory function, and other areas of
critical importance to spinal cord injury patients. A third new center at the Bronx VA Medical Center will explore pharmacological approaches to spinal cord injury.

The new facilities, with a combined budget of more than $11.1 million over
five years, join nine other VA "Centers of Excellence." "With these centers, VA is building upon its long history of accomplishments in medical research and using the latest medical knowledge to improve the lives of our veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.

The VA funds about $32 million each year in research related to
rehabilitation, part of an annual VA medical research budget of $351 million.