The UNC Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation is now ranked number 6 in the country for NIH funding.

"Our faculty's innovative ideas and their efforts have resulted in these awards," said Michael Y. Lee, MD, MHA, department chair. "I especially want to thank the faculty who have contributed and have worked diligently to make this happen."

The ranking is particularly noteworthy given UNC PM&R’s smaller composition of faculty in relation to PM&R departments also included in the top ten.

Susan Gaylord, PhD, director of the Program on Integrative Medicine within UNC PMR, and co-director of the NIH Research Fellowship in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, added: "In an era of health care reform, I am proud that our department is taking a leading role, both nationally and globally, in innovative, integrative research that will improve the quality of lives of all people." Dr. Gaylord is principal investigator in two NIH clinical trials on behavioral approaches to treatment of chronic illnesses.

The department recently received a grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to help soldiers who are suffering from postraumatic headache following a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sutapa Ford, PhD, is the principal investigator.

A story featuring this and other research efforts at UNC PM&R is in the October issue of Health & Healing.