Overview

The Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center at Mayo Clinic draws on the strong clinical practice, research and education efforts in rehabilitation medicine and surgery at Mayo Clinic and focuses on the discovery, translation and application of new knowledge to provide hope to people with disabilities.

Physicians and scientists from more than a dozen departments and sections at Mayo Clinic's three campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota work together through the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center to improve health care and restore function for people with a wide range of disabilities. Basic science researchers work with clinical partners in medical, musculoskeletal and neurological rehabilitation areas to achieve these goals.

Research activity in the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center is organized around three clinical research themes:

  • Medical rehabilitation
    • Amputation and prosthetics
    • Cancer rehabilitation
    • Cardiac rehabilitation
    • Disabilities of aging
    • Pediatric and developmental disabilities
  • Musculoskeletal rehabilitation
    • Arthritis
    • Spine and osteoporosis rehabilitation
    • Sports medicine
  • Neurological rehabilitation
    • Neurodegenerative disorders
    • Spinal cord injury
    • Traumatic brain injury and stroke

Program focus areas are applied across the three clinical research themes and include:

  • Assistive and restorative technology
  • Functional outcomes of rehabilitation
  • Regenerative rehabilitation

Each clinical research theme and program focus area is led by a physician or basic research scientist whose background and research expertise brings unique insight to the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center. Each clinical research theme consists of several specific research groups that are disease-oriented groups or condition-oriented groups. Clinical researchers have access to and collaborate with dedicated researchers in the three program focus areas to answer questions and solve problems related to their patient populations.