This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Spinal Cord Damage Research Center at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. The Center started 30 years ago out of a desire to focus research efforts on oft-overlooked medical, health and quality-of-life issues for people with spinal cord injury and disorders. The Center, which began with two researchers and one technician studying the impact of diabetes on people living with SCI/D, has grown into an international leader in research with 44 full-time employees, more than 350 published papers since its inception and funding sources that include Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, New York State and many foundations.
None of that would have been possible without the startup funding United Spinal Association, then known as Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, provided in 1990 at the behest of its visionary executive director, James J. Peters. A veteran and a wheelchair-user himself, Peters was always working to develop and improve new ways to help people with SCI/D live their lives to the fullest.
“Peters always wanted the VA to lead the way in SCI research, and he wanted it to happen here,” says current United Spinal CEO James Weisman.
Peters arranged for EPVA to provide $2.8 million over the Center’s initial years while it secured grants and developed its reputation. The Center has been peer review-funded by the VA since 1988.
The Bronx VA was renamed to honor Peters in 2004, and longtime friends and collaborators Drs. William A. Bauman and Ann M. Spungen, the Center’s director and associate director, know he would be proud of the work the SCI Center has accomplished.
“Jim would be beaming,” says Spungen. “With every publication and every grant we received, he always told us how much we had done with the investment and how proud he was of us. He couldn’t have been happier with our achievements. He really would have been blown away and happy to see how much we have done for the field of SCI medicine in the past three decades.”
That feeling is shared by United Spinal Association today. “Thirty years ago, we recognized the significance of investing in SCI/D research,” says Weisman. “We made the investment then, and we’re proud to continue to support the center’s groundbreaking efforts on behalf of all veterans and people with SCI/D.”
—Ian Ruder