The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation

The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation, a tax-exempt non-profit hospital based in Charlestown, Massachusetts, acts as a prime recipient and sub-recipient on federal research grants focused on neurorehabilitation, musculoskeletal biology, pain management, and acquired brain injury. The organization does not hold prime contracts but participates extensively in the federal grant ecosystem, with 55 percent of recent awards held as prime grants and 45 percent as sub-awards across the NIH, the Defense Health Agency, and the Administration for Community Living.

Spaulding's grant portfolio centers on biomedical and rehabilitation research grounded in neuroscience and physiology. Representative prime awards include a $732,927 project grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (CFDA 93.213, R01AT013875) to investigate the neurobiology of pain catastrophizing in burn survivors using cognitive-behavioral therapy and fMRI, a $480,192 project grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (CFDA 93.865) to develop and validate the Clinical Assessment of Sports and Physical Exertion (CASE) tool for return-to-play clearance in children with concussion, and a $777,538 Military Medical Research and Development award (CFDA 12.420) transferred from Baylor Scott and White Research to support the WALK DOC initiative, which uses robotic exoskeleton technology to improve behavioral responsiveness in patients with disorders of consciousness. Spaulding also holds a cooperative agreement with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to develop the Topological Atlas and Repository for Acupoint Research (TARA), an open-access database bridging traditional acupuncture nomenclature with modern anatomy and physiology.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward the National Institutes of Health and allied HHS agencies. The top five funding agencies account for 59 percent of all awards: the National Institute on Aging (13 awards), the Administration for Community Living (13 awards), the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (9 awards), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (8 awards), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (7 awards). The Department of the Army Medical Command accounts for 2 awards with $1.6 million in combined potential value. The source does not provide granular dollar values for the NIH awards, limiting full characterization of potential-value concentration; however, the award count and distribution signal that NIH investigator-initiated research dominates the footprint.

Activity has trended upward over the past five years—eight awards in 2022 to eighteen in 2025—with seven awards recorded year-to-date in 2026. Twenty-one awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore represent recompete opportunity. In its sub-award role, Spaulding participates as a research site across multiple prime institutions, including Brigham & Women's Hospital, the University of Texas at Dallas, Harvard College, The Ohio State University, Shepherd Center, the University of Pittsburgh, Boston University, and Indiana University. These sub-awards typically involve research site management, recruitment, data collection, and clinical oversight for projects spanning spinal cord injury rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury outcomes, joint health and aging, neurodegenerative disease, and integrated medicine approaches to chronic pain and functional dyspepsia.

Spaulding's capability portfolio reflects its identity as an academic medical center focused on rehabilitation outcomes and mechanisms research. It conducts patient-centered longitudinal trials, develops and validates clinical assessment tools, operates specialized imaging and neurophysiology laboratories (including fMRI hyperscanning and transcranial Doppler capabilities), and coordinates multi-site rehabilitation research networks. The organization participates in the NIH's model-systems programs for traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and burn injury, positioning it as a hub for clinical research translation in acquired neurological disability. Recent research emphasis includes neuromodulation for pain and functional recovery, brain-gut axis physiology, muscle stem cell biology and aging, and mechanistic studies of cognitive and psychological interventions in chronic pain populations.