House Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #2238 Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research
Requester:	William Luttge, MD		Organization:		Universities of Florida, South Florida and Miami
Project Title:	Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research		Date Submitted:		01/28/2000 4:46:10 PM
District Member:	J. Villalobos		Service Area:		Regional
Counties Affected:	Alachua, Dade, Hillsborough
Recipient:	Universities of Florida, South Florida, and Miami		Contact:		William Luttge, (Ex.Dir - UF)
	P.O. Box 100015		Contact Phone:		(352) 392-0490
	Gainesville 32610
Project Description:
Increase recurring funding of brain and spinal cord injury research at the University of Florida (UF) and University of Miami (UM) from $500,000 per year per program to $750,000 per year per program, and establish recurring research funding of $250,000 per year for such a program at the University of South Florida (USF). In Fiscal Year 1999-2000 this increased level of funding was allocated from Non-Recurring General Revenue, for Fiscal Year 2000-2001 the intent of this request is to henceforth provide these funds from Recurring General Revenue (a $250,000 increase in the Board of Regents budget for UF, a $250,000 increase in the Board of Regents budget for USF, and a $250,000 increase in the Department of Education budget for UM). The intent of this request is also that this increase in funding not come at the expense of other projects currently fundged by the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Trust Fund (BSCIRTF). At UF the current BSCIRTF-supported neurotrauma research program is administered through the UF Brain Institute, whereas at UM it is administered through The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. At both institutions these recurring funds are currently used to either provide initial "Seed" funding for brain or spinal cord injury pilot research proojects which can then serve as the basis for attracting new extramural competitive grants (e.g., federal and private agency grants), or they are used to provide carry-over, supplemental or matching funds for existing or pending extramural grants. This unique State funding mechanins is subject to peer-review in which the prospective program goals (background, hypotheses, specific aims, etc.) reserch design and proposed outcomes, supporting literature and proposed budget (and budget justification), together with a progress report of the research findings and activities of the previous year are rigorously evaluated. Copies of the full reporta and/or executive summaries are made available. Thus, in addition to the discovery of important new research fingings which are already seeing clinical application at UF and UM, both of these programs have used these funds to attract literally millions of new dollars in grants. With the provision of additional recurring funds to UF and UM, and the establishment of a recurring funding source for the neurotrauma research programs USF, the intent of this project is to expand these collaborative, multidisciplinary research efforts even further to inculde additional researchers and programs and thus increase the rate of acquisition of new extramural grant funds, that along with these state dollars will accelerate the discovery and application of new diagnostic and treatment strategies for these terribly debilitating conditions.
Services Provided/Benefit to State:
Spinal cord and traumatic brain injury primarily strike the young and healthy suddently with effects that may alter their lives, and the lives of their families, acquaintances and employers, profoundly and permanently. The National Institutes of Health estimate that there are 200,000 cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) in the USA (not including deaths), with 10,000 new cases each year. The numbers for traumtaic brain injury (TBI) are even more staggering with about 2 million cases nationwide each year including over 50,000 deaths. For both SCI and TBI, the majority of the injuries are in young males with a third to a half resulting from motor vehicle accidents. A conservative estimate of the annual medical costs for SCI is $6.2 billion and $25 billion for TBI. Both of these numbers increase dramatically when non-medical costs, such as lost income, are included. The State of Florida ranks second only to California in the incidence of these devastating injuries, with 2013 TBI, 441 SCI and 44 combined TBI/SCI cases reported to the central registry in FLorida during the FY 1996. Therefore, the need to do something about these injuries is obvious. Fortunately with the rapid advances occurring today in molecular medicine and biotechnology and the accelerating translation of physical and enfineering sciences to the biomedical sciences, there is no real reson to hope that effective treatment and rehabilitation strategies are at long last finally possible. The State of Florida is indeed fortunate to have three major medical research programs in SCI and TBI and UF, UM, and USF that are already leading the nation in various programs (e.g, regeneration after nervous system transplantation) and as such would clearly represent an excellent investment site for increased funding. Lastly, even though the funding of this program is likely to lead to a reduction in the longterm costs to the State for SCI and TBI rehabilitation and care, and thus provide a strongly positive public benefit and a return on the State's investment, the tremendous personal quality of life benefits of even a partially successful therapy to these individuals will, of cour, far outweigh any of these cost benefits.
Measurable Outcome Anticipated:
As described above, when the discoveries funded by this program are applied to clinical practice, the long-term costs to the State for SCI and TBI rehabilitation and care will decline, and thus this program will provide a strongly positive public benefit and a return on the State's investment. Albeit more difficult to quantify, the tremendous personal quality of life benefits of even a partially successful therapy to these individuals will, of cours, far outweigh any of these cost benefits. Lastly, since most of these funds have and will continue to be used to either provide initial "seed" funding for brain or spinal cord injury pilot research projects which can then serve as the basis for attracting new extramural competitive grants (e.g., federal and private agency grants), or they are used to provide carry-over, supplemental or matching funds for existing or pending extramural grants, this program has already resulted in leterally millions of new dollars in extramural grant funds and prestigious peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Amount requested from the State for this project this year:				$750,000
Total cost of the project:		$1,750,000

Request has been made to fund:			Operations
Is there Local Government or Private match for this request?						No
Was this project previously funded by the State?						Yes
	Fiscal Year:	1999-2000		Amount:		$1,000,000
Is future-year funding likely to be requested?						Yes
	Amount:	$750,000
	Purpose for future year funding:				Recurring Operations
	Will this be an annual request?					Yes
Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request?						No
Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget?						No
Is there a documented need for this project?						Yes
	Documentation:	FL Brain & Spinal Cord Injury Program reports: Morbidity/Cost data from National Institutes of Healt
Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)?						No