Scholarships, Fellowships, and Grants.

Grants Available for 2002 Research

The Foundation for Physical Therapy announces three $40,000 research grants that will be funded in 2002.

* Evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapist interventions.

Made possible by student fundraising efforts in the Miami-Marquette Challenge.

* Evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapist interventions as related to questions 3.6 or 3.7 of APTA's Clinical Research Agenda.

Made possible by the Private Practice Section of APTA.

* Evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapist interventions for people with musculoskeletal disorders.

Made possible by the Orthopaedic Section of APTA.

Grant proposals must be received by August 16, 2001. Funding begins January 1, 2002. To be eligible for a research grant, the principal investigator must be a physical therapist licensed to practice in the United States. Studies that are to be completed in fulfillment of requirements for an academic degree are not eligible for Foundation research grant funding.

For a research grant request for proposal, please contact the Foundation at 800/875-1378, or e-mail [e-mail].

Foundation-Funded Researchers Receive Additional Funding from NIH

Fay B Horak, PT, PhD, Senior Scientist, Neurological Sciences Institute, Oregon Health Sciences University, Beaverton, Ore, has recently been appointed to the research subcommittee of the National Institute of Child and Maternal Health, National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This committee is responsible for evaluating the merit of program projects and fellowships submitted to NCMRR.

Horak also recently received a 5-year $749,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the NIH, to study the effects of deep brain stimulation on posture and oromotor control. This is her second NIA grant.

"One of my very first research grants was from the Foundation for Physical Therapy in 1989," said Horak. "Thanks to the research supported by the Foundation, I now have $7,383,800 in the form of four current grants from the NIH."

Horak has received two grants from the National Institute of Deafness and Communicative Disorders of the NIH: one on vestibular and somatosensory substitution and the other on spatial orientation for locomotion and inclined surfaces.

David R Sinacore, PT, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Program in Physical Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Mo, received a 4-year $1.08 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH, to study optimal off-loading therapy for healing diabetic ulcers.

"The role of the Foundation for Physical Therapy has been pivotal in allowing me to pursue inquiry into diabetes mellitus and its complications," said Sinacore. "The Foundation invested in me with a research grant in 1987 and doctoral training support in 1989, both in the area of physical therapy interventions for complications due to diabetes. Our `partnership' will hopefully serve millions of individuals by determining the most effective physical therapy interventions for individuals with complications due to diabetes."

Sinacore also serves on the Foundation's Scientific Review Committee.

Awardees Complete Grant and Scholarship Studies

The following physical therapists have partially or fully completed research grants or doctoral scholarships from the Foundation for Physical Therapy, and submitted dissertations or abstracts to the Foundation:

C Scott Bickel, PT
The University of Georgia
2000 Promotion of Doctoral Studies
  (PODS), Level I
Influence of Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury
  on Lower Extremity Muscle Mass

Christian C Evans, PT, PhD
Midwestern University
1999 Promotion of Doctoral Studies
  (PODS), Level II
Altered Hemodynamics in Transgenic Mice
  Harboring Mutant Tropomyosin Linked
  to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Nancy D Harada, PT, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
1996 Research Grant
Patterns of Rehabilitation Utilization After
  Hip Fracture in Acute Hospitals and
  Skilled Nursing Facilities

Anne D Kloos, PT, PhD
Cleveland State University
1994, 1995, and 1996 Doctoral Research
  Awards
Compensatory Synaptogenesis
  Following Embryonic Injury

Christine L Wells, PT, MS, CCS, ATC
University of Pittsburgh
2000 Promotion of Doctoral Studies (PODS),
  Level II
Motor Control and Executive Function in
  Lung Transplant Recipients

The grant and scholarship recipients listed above presented their results in textbook chapters and abstracts in journals such as the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulation Physiology and the Journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association.