College of Health Sciences
Strategic Initiatives

1) Create the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Training, and Practice.

The creation of an Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Training, and Practice (RRTP) at the University of Delaware will help to move the University towards its path to prominence by establishing the University as the premier research center in the nation in the area of physical rehabilitation. As the US population ages and as more people survive major injuries and illnesses, the importance of efficient and effective rehabilitation practices continues to grow. Virtually every American will utilize the services of a physical therapist or other rehabilitation specialist at some time in their lives. Through this institute, which will integrate state-of-the-art rehabilitation related research, training, and practice, the University of Delaware will establish itself as the national leader in the discovery and dissemination of interdisciplinary, translational rehabilitation related research. Presently, there is an acute shortage of space to conduct rehabilitation related research at the University. We are physically at our limit. We need to grow the research programs of all participating departments and centers if we want to increase our impact and prominence in this area. We need to involve researchers from more disciplines, including nursing and the social sciences, so that our research can go across all research domains including the evaluation societal participation. We also need to increase the available space so that we may grow our research programs.

We plan to establish a temporary home for the Institute within an existing structure on campus. The temporary home is expected to last from 5-7 years and will provide the ability to integrate faculty and resources from physical therapy, exercise science, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and nursing into a single location. In addition, the facility will house the Center for Biomechanical Engineering Research, the Center for Applied and Computational Biomechanics, the Physical Therapy Clinic, and the Exercise Science laboratories. Uniting all of these components in a temporary facility will provide time for faculty to create interdisciplinary research teams, incubate internal and external partnerships, and initiate multidisciplinary research initiatives. In essence, by utilizing a temporary facility, we realize a cost effective way to enable the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Training, and Practice to gain traction and to develop partnerships that will enable transition to a clinical research complex.

Following the 5-7 year period of implementation and development, the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Training, and Practice, along with industrial and Delaware Health Science Alliance partners will unite on the University of Delaware Clinical Research Complex that will include numerous state-of-the-art technologies (ie. imaging centers) along with expanded clinical services. The expanded Rehabilitation Institute would house all members of the College of Health Sciences along with participating faculty from Engineering and other colleges.

3) Expand the Center for Research Development (CRD)

The College of Health Sciences is committed to championing the development and support of an infrastructure that will serve to engage and support College and RRTP faculty and professionals in conducting research related to the health of human subjects. The expanded CRD will: identify cross cutting research initiatives, form interdisciplinary research teams, promote partnerships, and facilitate the development of an internationally recognized model system for the identification, incubation, and implementation of sponsored research. To accomplish this, we propose the following:

• In collaboration with industry leaders, develop web based:
• Clinical research and protocol coordination training materials.
• Protocol tracking utilities.
• Human subject recruitment and retention tools.
• Develop research support and training materials that conform to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Human Subject Research (OHSR) standards and applicable practices that include but are not limited to:
• Clinical informatics, data management, and protocol tracking.
• Biostatistics support.
• Quality assurance and quality control.
• Scientific review.
• Human resources and the physical plant.
• Training and education.
• Establish and support a human subject research enterprise model system that conforms to human subject research standards designated by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).
• Manage the pre-IRB scientific review of submitted protocols.
• Establish a model process for obtaining investigational device exemptions (IDEs) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Develop a web based training course on research ethics.
• Develop and implement methods for the efficient access and implementation of these tools.
• Significantly enhance the quality and multi-media content of grant submissions, scientific presentations, and development materials.

Resources Required to Establish CRD

• The CRD will be directed by an endowed Associate Dean for Research, whose responsibilities will also include identifying cross cutting research initiatives, forming interdisciplinary research teams, promoting partnerships, and facilitating the development of an internationally recognized model system for the identification, incubation, and implementation of sponsored research.
• Endowed graduate research assistants (10) to assist young faculty throughout the College in developing research agendas.
• Endowed undergraduate summer research assistants (10) to assist young faculty throughout the College in developing research agendas.

4) Create the Center for Applied and Computational Biomechanics (CACoB).

The University of Delaware is uniquely poised to become the international center of expertise for the development and application of technologies used to assess the biomechanics of human motion. UD faculty in the Departments of Exercise Science and Mechanical Engineering have authored the majority of the software used worldwide to analyze human motion data from optical motion capture systems, and faculty in Physical Therapy have a strong reputation in the clinical application of motion capture technology. Instrumentation available in these departments represents the current technology of the three primary manufacturers of automated passive‑marker motion capture systems. Existing corporate partnerships have begun to provide UD researchers with unparalleled access to technological resources well ahead of the biomechanics community, and as emerging corporate collaborations are implemented, resulting innovations will provide ample opportunity for access to federal SBIR, STTR, and R21 funding sources and Cooperative Research and Development partnerships. CACoB activities will propel the University of Delaware to international prominence and establish one critical cornerstone of the University’s  Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Training, and Practice, engineering research centers of excellence grants, and clinical and translational science awards. CACoB’s functions will include:

• Establishing professional masters in motion capture system technology (HNES).
• Managing the standardization of approaches to assess and enhance the on-site accuracy of motion capture systems. Currently, only one organization (Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society) has attempted to address this need, and progress has been limited.
• Establishing UD as the facility certification agency for assessing the functionality of motion analysis laboratories.
• Establishing UD as the researcher/clinician certification agency for motion capture, with regularly scheduled workshops for international scientists and clinicians.
• Establishing UD as the independent testing agency (and Underwriters Laboratory of sorts) for commercial motion capture systems.

Faculty necessary to establish CACoB will include:

• Endowed faculty director
• 2 endowed faculty

5) Create the Center on Aging and Chronic Conditions: Delaware Aging Initiative.

The Center of Excellence on Aging and Health Management of Chronic Conditions will expand the current campus-wide research efforts focused on aging to include capacity to extend both research and service initiatives to Delaware residents in Kent and Sussex counties (referred to as the Delaware Aging Initiative). This will be accomplished by building a mobile health clinic that will enable researchers and clinicians to transport measurement and health assessment facilities and expertise to sites in southern Delaware. To accomplish this, the following will be needed:

• Mobile Health Clinic
• Mobile Health Clinic Headquarters in Lewes
• Maintenance endowment

6) Expand the Nursing Simulation Laboratories: Transitional Education Model

The success of the current nursing simulation laboratories in preparing students for clinical experiences and recruiting talented students to the University establishes the need to expand and improve these facilities. More sophisticated simulators that provide clinical laboratory managers with the ability to challenge developing nurses with an array of clinical cases and medical events are needed. The experiences gained from these case challenges have a significant positive impact on the ability of student nurses to function in a real hospital environment, and make our graduates highly valued.

7) Identify and hire an under-represented student recruitment officer.

To address a chronic University-wide problem involving the inability to recruit and retain talented under-represented undergraduate and graduate students, the College of Health Sciences proposes to create an endowed position for a Director of Student Recruitment. The endowment will insure that the position is long-term and will demonstrate a sustained commitment on the part of the University to create a talented and diverse body of students in the health sciences.