For more than 50 years, the National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Database has been the cornerstone of spinal cord injury (SCI) research in the United States. Since 1973, it has captured detailed information from thousands of people with traumatic SCI, helping researchers track long-term outcomes, improve rehabilitation care and guide new discoveries. In this episode, we explore how the database works, what makes it unique and how its insights continue to shape the future of SCI care and recovery.

Our guests are:

• Anne Deutsch, PhD, RN, research scientist, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and co-principal investigator, Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System
• Yuying Chen, MD, PhD, director, National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Jennifer Coker, PhD, MPH, co-director, National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Trevor Dyson-Hudson, MD, co-director of the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System at the Kessler Foundation

This special episode is co-hosted with David McMillan, PhD, host of the American Spinal Injury Association podcast, SCI Science Perspectives.

Find the podcast on ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or ⁠YouTube⁠ and browse the podcast archive for past episodes.

This podcast is supported by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (grants 90DPKT0007, 90RTGE0004, 90SIMS0015, 90DPHF0012).

#spinalcordinjury #rehabilitationresearch

On this episode of INside the OUTcomes, we’re discussing the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC) and its role in translating complex health information into accessible and useful resources for people living with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and burn injury.

Our guest is Cindy Cai, PhD, a researcher at the American Institutes for Research and the principal investigator and project director of the MSKTC. The MSKTC works with model systems researchers — including researchers in the Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab — to create easy-to-understand resources about SCI, TBI and burn injury for patients, families and caregivers.

Transcripts are available.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.

This podcast is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. (Grants 90DPKT0007, 90RTGE0004, 90SIMS0015, 90DPHF0012).

On this episode of INside the OUTcomes, we're exploring the challenges people with disabilities face when it comes to air travel, and opportunities to enhance accessibility.

Mike Whelan, one of our guests, is a member of several Shirley Ryan AbilityLab spinal cord injury research advisory councils and counts himself as a "million miler" -- logging more than a million miles in the air as he travels the world with his manual wheelchair. Our other guest, Eric Lipp, is a former Shirley Ryan AbilityLab patient who turned a frustrating experience into a mission to make travel, transportation and tourism more accessible for all. Eric is the founder and executive director of the Open Doors Organization, a nonprofit that trains transportation staff, leads accessibility advocacy, and collaborates with scientists at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Indiana University on research to improve air travel for people with disabilities.

This podcast is supported by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.