INDIANAPOLIS - Researchers and medical experts who focus on spinal cord injuries may find their efforts linked under a proposal to be relased Tuesday.
Nearly four dozen people, including actor-director Christopher Reeve, have been invited to an Indianapolis meeting to discuss forming an umbrella organization that would coordinate such efforts.
Experts say such a consortium could build on existing research and improve fund raising by drawing in representatives from foundations and other groups.
The hope is that it could tie in to the life sciences efforts under way at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
"We want to see what we can collectively do - including building off the life sciences initiative," Denny Armington, chief executive officer of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, which is owned by Clarian Health Partners and St. Vincent Hospitals & Health Services, told The Indianapolis Star.
Tuesday's meeting at Rehabilitation Hospital is timed to include Reeve, who will be in town for a fund-raiser Monday in conjunction with the Indianapolis-based Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation and the hospital.
Reeve was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback-riding accident.
Schmidt, an Indy car team owner, was paralyzed in a racing accident in 2000.
Armington said a goal of a consortium could be to lure businesses that can advance spinal research efforts.
Local research also would be a key component. IU and Purdue University have head and spinal cord injury centers, and the two universities are coordinating research efforts.