Scholarships, fellowships, and grants. (Foundation for Physical Therapy).

Clinical Research Network to Explore the Effects of Muscle Strengthening Exercises

At their fall meeting, the Foundation's Board of Trustees chose PTClinResNet to receive a $1.5 million, 3-year contract. Principal Investigator Carolee J Winstein, PT, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, submitted the winning proposal.

PTClinResNet has a coordinating center at the University of Southern California with five satellite sites: Northwestern University, Southwestern Missouri State University, the University of California at Los Angeles, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, and USC PT Associates. (See sidebar for investigators and sites.) "We are delighted that the Foundation has chosen to fund the establishment of PTClinResNet, a clinical research network that links together five premier centers of physical therapy research and practice," stated Dr Winstein.

Investigators at these sites will collaborate on four projects to assess the effects of strengthening exercises that are designed to improve muscle performance and movement skill in patients with stroke, shoulder pain, postsurgical back pain, and pediatric cerebral palsy. There will also be a coordinated effort to compare treatments, facilitated by the use of a common valid set of outcome measures across projects.

"It is clear that a critical objective for our profession is to examine the efficacy of physical therapist practice through sound scientific methods of clinical research," said Winstein. "The unique collaborative arrangement that the funding from the Foundation will allow us to build is designed to foster cuttingedge clinical research now and into the future, across a wide domain of physical therapist practice. We believe that, by combining the talent and resources at many institutions, we can accomplish much more than if we were all working separately."

The plans for PTClinResNet also include the creation of an infrastructure to develop and sustain clinical trials research in physical therapy after Foundation funding ends, and provisions for education and training opportunities for present and future clinician-researchers in physical therapy and for the physical therapy community at large. "Indeed," Winstein added, "we anticipate that the concept of a clinical research network, which the Foundation had the vision to promote, may eventually become recognized as the optimal arrangement for carrying out clinical research--and that PTClinResNet will be the first of many such networks."

The selection of PTClinResNet resulted from an application process beginning in June 2001, when the Foundation issued a call for letters of intent to submit clinical research network proposals in accordance with the Clinical Research Network Guidelines and Application. To be successful, the proposed networks must satisfy the following Foundation CRN objectives: address a variety of physical therapist clinical practice areas, evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy interventions, promote collaborative research among investigators across institutions, and provide a stimulating multisite environment for clinical research that will develop established investigators and attract promising new investigators.

In October 2001, the Foundation received 7 letters of intent. Subsequently, the letters of intent were expertly reviewed by the following blue-ribbon review panel:

Leigh Callahan, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Department of
  Medicine and Orthopaedics, and Director
  Numerical Sciences Core
Thurston Arthritis Research Center
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

John Mason, PhD
Director, Health Services Evaluation
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Mary Ellen Michel, PhD
Program Director
National Institute of Neurological Disorders
  and Stroke
National Institutes of Health

George A Wells, PhD
Senior Scientist
Ottawa Health Research Institute

Upon recommendation by the review panel, in December 2001, the Board of Trustees awarded $5,000 planning grants to 3 investigators to develop proposals for a clinical research network.

In May 2002, the Foundation received the three clinical research network proposals. Each proposal was initially reviewed by a subcommittee of the Foundation's Scientific Review Committee who--although they were not scoring or participating in the review process or final recommendation--were asked, as physical therapist experts, to provide their comments on: (1) the appropriateness of the physical therapy interventions in the network; (2) the importance of the network's research to the physical therapy profession and the relationship of the research to APTA's Clinical Research Agenda; and (3) the use of "Guide" (Guide to Physical Therapist Practice) language throughout the proposal.

A second distinguished blue-ribbon review panel with specialty area, network, and multicenter trial expertise was assembled to additionally focus on network composition, research methods and statistics, and outcomes and data collection:

Marian T Hannan, MPH, DSc
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School and Senior
  Research Associate
Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged

Jay Magaziner, MSHyg, PhD
Professor and Director
Division of Gerontology and Co-Director
University of Maryland Center for Research
  on Aging

John Mason, PhD
Director, Health Services Evaluation
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Mary Ellen Michel, PhD
Program Director
National Institute of Neurological Disorders
  and Stroke
National Institutes of Health

Carol Richards, PT, PhD
Professor, Faculty of Medicine
Laval University
Research Director
Rehabilitation Research Center (CIRRIS)
Quebec Rehabilitation Institute

George A Wells, PhD
Senior Scientist
Ottawa Health Research Institute

"The Foundation is committed to supporting research that will enhance clinical practice and advance evidence-based practice," stated Foundation President Jayne L Snyder, PT, MA. "By evaluating the effects of strengthening exercises designed to improve muscle performance and movement skill in patients with physical disabilities, Dr Winstein and her colleagues will be providing critical evidence for clinical practice."

PTClinResNet Investigators and Institutions

Principal Investigator: Carolee J Winstein, PT, PhD, University of Southern California

Co-Principal Investigator: James E Gordon, PT, EdD, University of Southern California

Lead Investigators: David Brown, PT, PhD, Northwestern University; Eileen Fowler, PT, PhD, University of California at Los Angeles; Bryan Kemp, PhD, Rancho Los Amigos National Medical Center; Kornelia Kulig, PT, PhD, University of Southern California.

Co-Lead Investigators: Sharon DeMuth, DPT, MS, University of Southern California; Loretta Knutson, PT, PhD, PCS, Southwest Missouri State University; Sara MuJroy, PT, PhD, Rancho Los Amigos National Medical Center; Christopher Powers, PT, PhD, University of Southern California; Kathy Sullivan, PT, PhD, University of Southern California; Robert Waters, MD, Rancho Los Amigos Nationaj Medical Center.