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International Spinal Cord Rehabilitation (ISCoR) study group
The foundation is proud to be a partner of the International Spinal Cord
Rehabilitation (ISCoR) study group. This collaboration comprises a broad
international representation of inpatient Spinal Rehabilitation Units, including a
mix from developed and developing countries. The groups overall objective is
to conduct research on the rehabilitation outcomes for patients with spinal
cord damage from any cause in their different countries.
The group was formed out of recognition of the need for large, international,
collaborative multi-centre research on people with spinal cord damage. It was
initially thought that the ISCoR study group would focus only on people with
spinal cord myelopathy (SCM), sometimes referred to as non-traumatic spinal
cord injury (SCI), in response to the relative paucity of literature regarding
people with these causes of spinal cord damage. However, it was
subsequently determined that the group would involve itself in research projects involving patients of any aetiology, that is
traumatic SCI and SCM, although a major interest in the SCM cohort still remains.
The ISCoR study group began in 2009, after preliminary discussions between the principal investigator (Dr Peter New) and a
number of clinicians and researchers (Andrea Townson, Georgio Scivaletto, Marcel Post, Eimer Smith and Ron Reeves) were
held at the 2009 International Spinal Cord Society Meeting in Florence, Italy. Over the following year email discussions
progressed planning for research activities and efforts were made to recruit additional units. The participating units were
selected on the basis that they treated an estimated minimum of 50 adult patients over a 3-year period with recent onset of
SCM and were willing to participate in the project. Exclusion criterion was the participation of another unit from the same
country. It was initially intended to include at least one unit from each continent. Despite the study groups best efforts, and
some preliminary interest from a number of centres, no SRU from South America or Africa has been identified to date that met
the inclusion criteria.
Rehabilitation (ISCoR) study group. This collaboration comprises a broad
international representation of inpatient Spinal Rehabilitation Units, including a
mix from developed and developing countries. The groups overall objective is
to conduct research on the rehabilitation outcomes for patients with spinal
cord damage from any cause in their different countries.
The group was formed out of recognition of the need for large, international,
collaborative multi-centre research on people with spinal cord damage. It was
initially thought that the ISCoR study group would focus only on people with
spinal cord myelopathy (SCM), sometimes referred to as non-traumatic spinal
cord injury (SCI), in response to the relative paucity of literature regarding
people with these causes of spinal cord damage. However, it was
subsequently determined that the group would involve itself in research projects involving patients of any aetiology, that is
traumatic SCI and SCM, although a major interest in the SCM cohort still remains.
The ISCoR study group began in 2009, after preliminary discussions between the principal investigator (Dr Peter New) and a
number of clinicians and researchers (Andrea Townson, Georgio Scivaletto, Marcel Post, Eimer Smith and Ron Reeves) were
held at the 2009 International Spinal Cord Society Meeting in Florence, Italy. Over the following year email discussions
progressed planning for research activities and efforts were made to recruit additional units. The participating units were
selected on the basis that they treated an estimated minimum of 50 adult patients over a 3-year period with recent onset of
SCM and were willing to participate in the project. Exclusion criterion was the participation of another unit from the same
country. It was initially intended to include at least one unit from each continent. Despite the study groups best efforts, and
some preliminary interest from a number of centres, no SRU from South America or Africa has been identified to date that met
the inclusion criteria.
Collaborators:
Dr Peter New, Melbourne, Australia (Principal Investigator)
Dr Inge Eriks-Hoogland, Nottwil, Switzerland
Dr Zaheer Gill, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Dr Anupam Gupta, Bangalore, India
Dr Marcel Post, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Dr Ron Reeves, Rochester, MN, USA
Dr Giorgio Scivoletto, Rome, Italy
Dr Eimaer Smith, Dublin, Ireland
Dr Andrea Townsend, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr Joost van Middendorp, Aylesbury, UK
Joost van
Middendorp
commenced his
role as the Stoke
Mandeville
Spinal
Foundation
Research Director in March
2012. He started his Medical
and Scientific career in the
Netherlands and continued
conducting clinical research in
Brisbane, Australia. He
currently is a Research Fellow
of the Harris Manchester
College, University of Oxford.
