The School of Medicine will celebrate 10 years of advances in spinal cord research at the PVA/EPVA Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research on Friday, Sept. 26.
The anniversary celebration will begin with the first Helen Wilshire Walsh Lecture, "From Molecules to Man: Approaching a New Neurology of Spinal Cord Injury," which will be delivered by Dr. Stephen G. Waxman, professor and chair of neurology and director of Yale's PVA/EPVA Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research. The lecture is open to the Yale community and will take place at 4 p.m. in the Medical Historical Library at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library in the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.
"It is an immensely exciting time in research on spinal cord injury and related disorders," says Dr. Waxman. "We're making important progress, with new discoveries on an almost monthly basis at the PVA/EPVA research center, located on the West Haven campus of the VA Connecticut Health Care System."
The Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) and the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America (EPVA) are public advocacy organizations that have played major roles throughout the country in promoting the needs of individuals with paralyzing disorders such as spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis (MS). " We could not have done this without our supporters at PVA and EPVA," says Dr. Waxman. "These organizations, and their members, have truly been partners in our battle against spinal cord injury and related disorders."
The new Walsh Lectureship honors the late Helen Payne Wilshire Walsh, an internationally renowned advocate for the disabled. She was president and chair of Rehabilitation International USA, a worldwide volunteer agency dedicated to improving services to the disabled. In 1990, President George Bush appointed her to a three-year term on the National Council on Disability, a commission that drafts legislation to help the disabled.
"We are especially delighted to have received a generous gift, from the estate of Helen Wilshire Walsh, which will provide crucial endowment for our research center," says Dr. Waxman. "Helen Wilshire Walsh's spirit lives on in the advances we've achieved over the last 10 years. We are pleased to honor her tireless work and generosity as we celebrate this important anniversary."
Yale's PVA/EPVA Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research was established in 1987 as a collaboration between the University, the Paralyzed Veterans of America/Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association and the Veterans Administration, now the Department of Veterans Affairs. The center's research focuses on functional recovery after injury to the spinal cord and brain, and its mission is to develop new therapies and ultimately find a cure for paralyzing disorders that affect the nervous system, especially spinal cord injury, MS and related disorders.
During the past 10 years, the center's neuroscientists pioneered the development of the new drug, 4-AP, which reverses symptoms such as weakness and visual loss in MS. The drug is currently in late-stage clinical trials. The center is also exploring the strategy of using cell transplantation to repair damage to the myelin insulation in the spinal cord that occurs as a result of injury and in MS. Other research projects are aimed at developing new treatments for pain and spasticity in spinal cord injury and MS.
During the past decade, the center's staff members have published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and have edited or written six books. In addition, more than 50 research scientists who received their doctoral and postdoctoral training at the center have launched their own laboratories around the world.
"As reflected in the title of my talk," says Dr. Waxman, "we're approaching a new -- and much more hopeful -- neurology of spinal cord injury. I'm very optimistic
about the future. The goal of repairing the injured
spinal cord, at least in some patients, is a realistic one, and we're moving as fast as we can in this direction."