Imagine a medical research environment that brings together the brightest minds, the most advanced equipment, and a willingness to pursue promising ideas wherever they might lead. Then imagine researchers, clinicians, and therapists all working together to identify and test innovative new medical techniques, and sharing their results freely with the world.
You’ve just imagined The Miami Project.
Established in 1985 by internationally recognized spinal cord injury (SCI) expert Barth A. Green, M.D. as part of University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, The Miami Project’s mission was to accelerate the search for effective SCI treatments. Over the past two decades, it has grown into the world’s largest comprehensive SCI research center, dedicated to finding more successful treatments and, ultimately, a cure for paralysis.
Three families whose lives had been touched by spinal cord injuries also participated in the Project’s founding – those of businesspeople Don Misner and Beth Rosco and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti. They contributed business expertise, while also helping the Project gain visibility and credibility across a broad spectrum of society and industry. In addition, Nick Buoniconti, whose son Marc sustained a spinal cord injury while playing in a Citadel football game, established the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, which raises awareness of and funds for SCI research at The Miami Project. Perhaps best known of the Fund’s events is the annual Great Sports Legends Dinner held every October in New York.
The goal of the Project’s more than 200 medical staffers has always been, and remains, to advance basic understanding of spinal cord injury and the processes needed to promote regeneration. To that end, the organization engages in a broad range of “rigorous and objective evaluation” of the functional results of new therapies.
This research and testing has resulted in a new understanding of the specific, cell-level damage sustained by the human spinal cord after injury; new monitoring and nerve-protection techniques used during spinal-cord surgeries; new knowledge regarding possible options for “rewiring” the adult spinal cored after injury; and successful new methods for growing large numbers of Schwann cells that help promote regeneration of nerve fibers from central nervous system tissue, among other achievements.
What once was could only be imagined – the ability to rebuild a healthy, functioning spinal cord after a damaging injury – can now be seen on the horizon. It’s not here yet, but with the knowledge being developed, tested, and shared at The Miami Project, it’s a lot closer to the reality we dream of.
To get more information on how you can make a donation to The Miami Project, call 1-888-STAND UP or (305) 243-2267. Visit The Miami Project for more information.
Want to know more about Nick and Marc? See Scoring for SCI: Marc and Nick Buoniconti.
