⭐ SCI Model System Centers

One of the original SCI Model System centers, continuously designated since the early 1970s, with rehabilitation care based at the Spain Rehabilitation Center. UAB is also home to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, which runs the national database tracking long-term outcomes across the Model Systems. Research focuses on neuropathic pain, metabolic and digestive health, and women's health after SCI.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center has treated spinal cord injuries since 1941 and has been part of the SCI Model Systems program for more than four decades. Its rehabilitation center includes a dedicated SCI unit, a respiratory rehabilitation unit for patients working to come off a ventilator, and CARF-accredited SCI programs for both adults and adolescents. Research focuses on telehealth, nutrition, and aging well with SCI.

A county-run national rehabilitation center serving Los Angeles County, Rancho Los Amigos has contributed to the national SCI database since 1980 and cares for a large, diverse, and often underserved patient population. It acts as a medical home for people with SCI across the county, following them from acute care through community reintegration. Current research includes non-drug approaches to chronic pain and improving bowel-related quality of life.

A free-standing nonprofit hospital devoted exclusively to spinal cord injury and brain injury rehabilitation, Craig has held the federal SCI Model System designation since 1974. It runs one of the country's largest ventilator-weaning programs for SCI and provides on-campus family housing so loved ones can take part in rehabilitation. Research focuses on upper-limb function in tetraplegia, breathing support for high cervical injuries, and access to assistive technology.

MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital is a free-standing rehabilitation hospital serving the Washington, DC region and anchors the National Capital SCI Model System with Georgetown University. Its research concentrates on bladder and urinary health after SCI, including better ways to prevent and diagnose urinary tract infections. Services span inpatient, day-treatment, and outpatient rehabilitation, with robotic exoskeleton training, adaptive sports, and peer support.

Run by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine with inpatient care at the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center on the Jackson Memorial campus, the program is closely connected to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Research focuses on chronic pain, body composition, and inflammation in people living long term with SCI. The center also hosts P.R.E.P.A.R.E., an ongoing education forum for people with SCI and their families.

Shepherd Center has been a federally designated SCI Model System since 1982 and is one of the largest SCI rehabilitation programs in the country, treating a high volume of newly injured patients each year. Its research spans exercise combined with spinal stimulation to improve walking, injury prevention in the first year, aging with SCI, and access to assistive technology. Shepherd has a long tradition of peer support and community reintegration.

The Midwest Regional SCI Care System at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is one of the original five federally designated SCI Model System centers, giving it decades of experience in SCI care and research. Its work focuses on rehabilitation outcomes, equitable access to assistive technology, spasticity management, and interventions to promote recovery in chronic SCI. It is affiliated with Northwestern University in downtown Chicago.

The Spaulding New England Regional SCI Center is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and part of Mass General Brigham, serving New England from its Charlestown campus. Spaulding is the only institution to hold federal Model System designations in all three areas at once — spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and burn injury. Its research emphasizes neuroplasticity-based recovery, robotic-assisted walking, neuromodulation, and cardiovascular health after SCI.

The Michigan SCI Model System at the University of Michigan focuses on helping people live and age well with spinal cord injury across the lifespan. A signature effort uses electronic health records and machine learning to predict hospitalization risk and guide preventive care. Michigan also contributes to national studies on aging with SCI, autonomic function, and assistive technology, and runs a knowledge-translation program that shares plain-language resources with patients and families.

The Minnesota Regional SCI Model System is a collaboration among the University of Minnesota, Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, Mayo Clinic, and Regions Hospital, serving patients across Minnesota and neighboring states. Together they provide a full continuum of SCI care, from emergency and acute treatment through inpatient rehabilitation and long-term community services. The program includes a community advisory board of people with lived experience of SCI.

The Northern New Jersey SCI System is a partnership of Kessler Foundation, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, and University Hospital, and has been a federally funded SCI Model System since 1990. Its research emphasizes returning to work after SCI and managing the financial costs of injury. The program is also well known for producing widely viewed patient-education videos on practical topics such as bowel management and pressure-injury prevention.

Mount Sinai runs the only federally designated SCI Model System in New York State and is accredited by CARF as a Spinal Cord System of Care. It pairs inpatient rehabilitation with co-located research labs, so patients can take part in studies on the same floor where they receive therapy. The program is especially known for ventilator weaning and diaphragm pacing for people with high-level injuries, along with spasticity and neurogenic bladder care.

Based at MetroHealth with Case Western Reserve University, this Cleveland center offers a full continuum of care from emergency and acute treatment through rehabilitation and lifelong follow-up. It is closely tied to the Cleveland FES Center and is nationally known for research on functional electrical stimulation to help restore movement, alongside work on neuroprotection, bowel and bladder management, and pressure-injury prevention. It hosts a long-running annual SCI forum.

The University of Pittsburgh's Model Center is known for its strength in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology, drawing on Pitt's well-established wheelchair and seating research. Its work centers on manual wheelchair skills, preventing upper-limb pain and overuse injuries, and using technology such as virtual peer coaching to increase day-to-day independence. The center provides services spanning acute care through vocational rehabilitation and community reintegration.

TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston is one of the original SCI Model System centers, continuously funded since 1972, giving it one of the longest-running longitudinal databases on life after spinal cord injury. Working with Baylor College of Medicine and McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, it is known for research on pain management, psychological wellness (including a program focused on women with SCI), and robotic exoskeleton therapy, with a strong emphasis on decades-long follow-up.

Based at the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas, this center operates one of the largest SCI rehabilitation programs in the country, with a full continuum from acute care through outpatient services. Its research includes preventing post-traumatic stress after injury through early therapy during inpatient rehab, plus multi-site studies on assistive-technology access, cardiometabolic health, spasticity, and equity in rehabilitation outcomes. It follows patients over their lifetime.

The Virginia Consortium for SCI Care, led by Virginia Commonwealth University, is one of only a few U.S. centers designated as both a spinal cord injury and a traumatic brain injury model system. It brings together VCU's rehabilitation program, the Central Virginia VA Health Care System, and Sheltering Arms Institute to cover the full continuum from acute care to home and community living. It is known for research on telehealth-based neurorehabilitation for arm and hand function and on activity-based interventions.