Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) awarded the University of Pennsylvania a Project Grant totaling $685,048 under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173) for the CONNECT Aphasia initiative. The project, awarded February 6, 2026, with completion scheduled for January 31, 2031, will advance understanding of post-stroke language network reorganization through computational and imaging analyses combined with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) interventions. The research integrates innovative structural network analysis techniques to clarify the roles of the right pars triangularis and other brain regions in aphasia recovery, with particular focus on characterizing how network controllability—a structural property facilitating cognitive control of language—influences treatment outcomes in stroke survivors with aphasia.

This research initiative directly addresses a significant public health need, as aphasia affects 1-2 million Americans annually and remains the most common focal cognitive deficit associated with stroke. By developing a comprehensive model explaining how the brain's language networks reorganize post-stroke and how neuromodulation influences that reorganization, the project will provide critical evidence to optimize TMS-based treatment strategies for improving language recovery outcomes in individuals with aphasia.