Project Grant K23HD118254

Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation a Project Grant of $170,640 under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) on July 15, 2026, with a completion date of June 30, 2031. This award supports research on childhood stroke predictors of motor recovery, with the primary objective of advancing understanding of the mechanisms underlying variability in neurologic impairment and neurorecovery in pediatric stroke patients. The grant funds investigation into bilateral motor network activation patterns and their evolution toward specialized unilateral organization in the context of childhood stroke injury, neural restoration, and rehabilitation.

The award provides critical career development and research training support designed to establish the principal investigator as an independent physician-scientist specializing in neurorecovery following acquired pediatric brain injury. Deliverables include subject-specific coursework and didactic training in transcranial Doppler ultrasound and kinematic measurement methodologies, along with structured mentoring to develop competence in pediatric brain injury research, neuroimaging methods, and clinical research execution. The research output will generate empirical evidence on factors predicting functional recovery outcomes in childhood stroke populations, with potential applications for optimizing early rehabilitation interventions and improving long-term outcomes for this patient population.