Release Date: August 12, 1999 This content is archived.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo has received a five-year, $2 million federal grant to establish a center for collecting and disseminating information on international research and practices in rehabilitation that underscores the prominence of the programs in the UB School of Health Related Professions.
Called the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange, or CIRRIE, the initiative will involve:
• A World Wide Web site featuring a database of international research
• Funds to stage U.S. conferences on international rehabilitation research, for travel expenses for international experts to participate and for U.S. experts to participate in international conferences sponsored elsewhere
• Exchanges of research personnel between institutions internationally
• Developing and disseminating informational monographs and sponsoring workshops on the cultural practices and mores of the most prevalent immigrant populations in the U.S. to inform and educate rehabilitation providers.
The grant, which will be effective Sept. 1, was awarded by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education. John H. Stone, Ph.D., UB clinical associate professor of occupational therapy, will be project director. The center will be headquartered in UB's Center for Assistive Technology, a component of the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health Related Professions.
"Clearly all the work we do in rehabilitation -- both in the Department of Occupational Therapy and at the Center for Assistive Technology -- places us in the top tier in the country," said Barry Eckert, Ph.D, dean of the School of Health Related Professions. "Receiving this grant underscores the prominence of our programs."
Stone said NIDR's selection of UB for its international center is a recognition of all that is happening in Buffalo in the field of rehabilitation research.
The CIRRIE database will be developed by the UB Health Sciences Library, in conjunction with UB's Center for Functional Assessment Research, which houses rehabilitation outcomes from 1,331 rehabilitation facilities around the globe. The World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization also will contribute information. The site will contain the full texts of published research in all standard rehabilitation categories, and will be searchable by category and country.
Conferences on international rehabilitation research will be sponsored by UB in the third and fifth years of the grant. CIRRIE also will fund travel costs of international researchers to attend conferences sponsored by other institutions and individuals funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, the parent funding agency. Travel of U.S. experts invited to international rehabilitation conferences also will be covered.
U.S. immigrant populations that will be researched for monographs are the Mexican, Cuban, El Salvadoran, Indian, Jamaican, Korean, Filipino, Chinese and Vietnamese, and persons from the Dominican Republic. The information will be compiled in collaboration with specialists in the UB School of Nursing and the Boston-based Institute for Community Inclusion. The information will be used to develop educational workshops for health-care providers.
UB is an international leader in the fields of rehabilitation research and assistive-device development. In addition to the new initiative, UB also houses the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Aging and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Evaluation and Transfer.