ACL Announces $8.4 Million to Advance Research on Life After Spinal Cord Injury

ACL has announced $8,445,498 in FY2026 funding for 14 Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems. The awards, made through ACL's National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), support research on recovery, health, and daily life after spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury can affect more than movement. It can shape a person's health, daily routines, and ability to take part in work and community life. These awards fund research to give rehabilitation teams better evidence for addressing those challenges over time.

"The Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems program has been advancing knowledge and improving outcomes for people with spinal cord injury for more than five decades," said Kristi Hill, Ph.D., Acting Director of NIDILRR. "These awards will support research on the issues that matter most to people living with spinal cord injury, including health, function, independence, and quality of life."

The funded work covers functional recovery, whole-person health, and quality of life. It also takes on weight management, sexual health and function, and the prevention of urinary tract infections.

Since 1970, the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems program has linked specialized rehabilitation care, research at individual centers, studies that span centers, and a national database that follows people's outcomes over the long term. The program is among the world's longest running and most established spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation networks. The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center turns the findings into information that people with spinal cord injury, their families, and rehabilitation professionals can use.

Planned Studies Include

• Craig Hospital - Upper-extremity (arm and hand) recovery and fatigue
• Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital - Home-based spinal stimulation and the role of supportive relationships
• University of Miami School of Medicine - Neuropathic pain and the quality of long-term care
• Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai - Better ways to assess autonomic function (the body's automatic functions) and a test of remote neurological exams
• University of Washington - Bowel dysfunction and social isolation
• University of Pittsburgh - Smart-home technology, independence, and caregiver burden
• MedStar Health Research Institute - Preventing urinary tract infections and symptom-monitoring tools for adolescents
• Regents of the University of Minnesota - Activity patterns, symptoms, and the reliability of outcome measures
• University of Alabama at Birmingham - Non-invasive stimulation therapy, incomplete SCI therapy
• Rancho Research Institute - Behavioral modification techniques and virtual reality technology, pain reduction
• Memorial Hermann Health System - Social health education program, loneliness, and dissatisfaction with social participation

Together, these studies will generate new evidence to improve rehabilitation and community living across the lifespan. They will also add to national long-term data collection, and the findings will be shared in accessible ways with people with spinal cord injury, families, and clinicians.

Funded Model Systems

Amounts are FY2026 funds recorded in USA spending as of October 6, 2026. They do not reflect total funding for the full length of each project.

Separately, the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Grant 90SIMS0022) received $800,000 in FY2026 funding to support the program's national data systems. This is in addition to the $8,445,498 above.

These awards reflect NIDILRR's commitment to research that helps people with disabilities improve their health and function and take part in the activities that matter to them.

NIDILRR, part of the Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funds research and development that helps people with disabilities improve their health and function, employment, and participation in community life.