Overview
The MR3 Network supports rehabilitation researchers by building research infrastructure in medical rehabilitation—a key component of the NICHD mission. The network provides investigators with access to expertise, courses and workshops, technologies, and other collaborative opportunities from allied disciplines such as neuroscience, engineering, applied behavior, and the social sciences.
The network receives support from NICHD’s National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) with additional support from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and the National Institute for Nursing Research.
The MR3 Network includes the following six resource centers around the United States:
- Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation Research & Training (AR3T)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Center for Reliable Sensor Technology-based Outcomes for Rehabilitation (RESTORE Center)
Stanford, California - Center for Smart Use of Technology to Assess Real-world Outcomes (C-STAR)
Chicago, Illinois - Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research Network (LeaRRn)
Providence, Rhode Island - National Center of Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NC NM4R)
Charleston, South Carolina - National Pediatric Rehabilitation Resource Center (C-PROGRESS)
Roanoke, Virginia
These centers provide access to expertise, technologies, and resources to promote multidisciplinary collaborations, develop research opportunities, and enhance the capability of medical rehabilitation investigators to understand mechanisms of functional recovery, develop therapeutic strategies, and improve the lives of people with disabilities.
Opportunities facilitated by the network include research training, consultations, core services, onsite sabbaticals, pilot project funding, and educational opportunities.
History
The MR3 Network grew out of a 1999 NCMRR initiative to support four regional research networks. Each network was built upon collaboration among three institutions in the geographic region to provide outreach, focus scientific expertise, transfer information, and improve research capacity in medical rehabilitation. Based on the success of the initial regional networks, NCMRR set about to renew and reinvent the program in 2005 by focusing on providing access to key research expertise and technologies. The reinvented network supported research cores in biomedical, behavioral, and psychosocial sciences relevant to current topics in medical rehabilitation research.
In 2010, the network expanded further to support research across the rehabilitation research spectrum. NIH committed to providing approximately $30 million over a 5-year period to fund the network in 2011. The network went through two competitive renewals in 2015 and 2020 and currently consists of the previously mentioned six centers.
More Information
- MR3 Network Website (maintained by the Network Coordinating Center at the Medical University of South Carolina)
- NICHD Contact: Ralph Nitkin and Joe Bonner
BACK TO TOP