VCU Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

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Postdoctoral Training and Fellowships in Advanced Rehabilitation Research

Program overview

The last two decades witnessed a proliferation of rehabilitation programs to meet the needs of persons with brain injury and other neurological disorders. Clinical training programs have had difficulty keeping up with the demand for highly qualified clinicians. More disconcerting is the shortage of experienced researchers.  The efficacy of rehabilitation services has been questioned. Consumers and professionals have expressed concern that coverage of services by third-party payers has been limited by the lack of a research foundation.

During the last two decades, the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center has developed a well integrated network of clinical and research programs to help persons with traumatic brain injury and other neurological disorders. The medical center’s extensive resource network includes one of the nation’s largest teaching hospitals, a CARF accredited inpatient rehabilitation program, a broad array of outpatient rehabilitation programs, a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, and NIDRR Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems of Care.  The university is home to three international rehabilitation journals, the international Williamsburg brain injury conference, and the National Resource Center on Traumatic Brain Injury.

In 2004, we initiated an advanced rehabilitation research training program for individuals with advanced degrees, committed to a career in rehabilitation research. Neurobehavioral recovery and intervention is the ARRT’s focus and fellows normally receive at least two years of salary support.  Training and research activities extending more than two years address brain injury, aneurysms, brain tumors and other neurological disorders.  Individualized research training plans emphasizing scientific rigor guide fellows’ choices of training activities. Outstanding mentors, didactic experiences, and collaborative and independent research activities provide the foundation for the VCU ARRT program. Mentors include internationally and nationally renowned, distinguished scientists from the fields of rehabilitation medicine, neuropsychology, psychiatry, neurosurgery and vocational rehabilitation. Core courses on ethics, conduct in scientific research, and grant writing are complemented by grand rounds and graduate courses. All fellows will be required to complete and submit a grant application during the second year of their fellowship.

The ultimate goal of the VCUMC ARRT is to benefit rehabilitation practice and outcomes by increasing the number of highly skilled research professionals. 

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