Winter 2019 Edition

As TIRR Memorial Hermann prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary, the hospital ranks as the best in the southern half of the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation. The hospital has ranked among the top five in the country in all but three years since the magazine began publishing the list 29 years ago in 1990.

If you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly. It’s an honor to have been recognized in U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation since the inception of the list 29 years ago. The recognition puts us in the good company of other outstanding rehabilitation hospitals in the United States, many of which are our collaborators on research projects that lead to improvements in clinical care.

Physiatrists affiliated with TIRR Memorial Hermann’s Orthopedic/Multiple Trauma Program help patients with complex musculoskeletal injuries recover from trauma. The program is led by Jacob Joseph, MD, clinical chief of neuromuscular rehabilitation, clinical chief of orthopedic/trauma rehabilitation and vice chair for clinical operations in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.

Mason, now 64, uses a power wheelchair and has regained only partial use of her arms. “When you have polio, if it takes away, say, the use of your right arm, if you’re lucky enough to regain strength, the muscles and nerves that do work have to work twice as hard to compensate for the ones that don’t,” she says. “Because they’ve been working twice as hard for all these years, they’re worn out. Doctors don’t recommend exercise like they did back when we had polio and were trying to get our abilities back. If you do exercise, it should be very limited.

TIRR Memorial Hermann traces its roots back to the early 1950s when the polio epidemic was at its height in the United States. Today clinicians affiliated with the rehabilitation hospital provide care for people with post-polio syndrome, a condition that affects 25% to 40% of polio survivors according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In 2016, approximately 315,000 polio survivors were estimated to be living, with 85% over the age of 65.

The ILRU program at TIRR Memorial Hermann has received a grant to advance the capabilities of individuals with disabilities by studying patients who have had poliomyelitis or have other mobility impairments.aThe Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) program at TIRR Memorial Hermann has received a $75,000 grant to advance the capabilities of individuals with disabilities – and those who acquire disabilities as they age – by studying the experience of patients who have had poliomyelitis or have other mobility impairments.

When Alan Blum, MD, was in the second grade, he was among the 1.8 million children who participated in the clinical trial of the poliomyelitis vaccine introduced by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955. “Polio was a very frightening disease, and we were all excited about getting the vaccine,” recalls Dr. Blum, who is the Gerald Leon Wallace, MD Endowed Chair in Family Medicine in the College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He was the inaugural speaker at the annual Carlos Vallbona Lecture Series, hosted by TIRR Memorial Hermann in October 2018.

In August, the Brain Injury Association of American (BIAA) announced that Angelle Sander, PhD, was named the recipient of the 2018 William Fields Caveness Award. Each year, the BIAA presents the award in recognition of an individual who, through research on both a national and international level, has made outstanding contributions to bettering the lives of persons with brain injury. Dr. Sander is an associate professor with tenure in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine, where she is director of the division of Clinical Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology.

Ping Zhou, PhD, has been awarded a $1.83 million grant by NICHD for the project, “From Fiber to Muscle: A Multifaceted EMG Examination of Motor Unit Function After Spinal Cord Injury.” Dr. Zhou is a professor in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at McGavern Medical School at UTHealth and director of the NeuroMyo Engineering for Rehabilitation Laboratory at TIRR Memorial Hermann Research Center. Co-investigator of the study is Argyrios Stampas, MD, an attending physician in the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann and an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at McGovern Medical School.

Lourdes Cuéllar grew up in San Antonio, Texas, where her father owned a combination drugstore-general store that carried over-the-counter medications, toiletries and magazines but had no pharmacy. You could usually find her among the comic books. When she was a young child her father introduced her to books, which led to a lifelong love of geography, history, travel and photography. She and her two siblings had library cards before they could walk.

Nikola Dragojlovic, DO; Sara Goel, DO; Christine Krull, MD, and Shabrez Tariq, MD, FIPP, have joined the medical staff of TIRR Memorial Hermann. Dr. Nikola Dragojlovic is an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Sara Goel is a double-boarded physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist who focuses on pain management. Dr. Christine Krull, an attending physician at TIRR Memorial Hermann, is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. Dr. Shabrez Tariq has practiced pain medicine in the Houston area for the past seven years and is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabili...

TIRR Memorial Hermann research featured in print, on the podium and poster presentations.

At TIRR Memorial Hermann we have achieved remarkable results in rehabilitation by focusing on clinical care, research, education and advocacy. We accept the challenge of the most complex cases and maintain a high rate of discharge to the community. Advocacy is woven into our fabric. Our research funding stands at an all-time high of nearly $30 million, and our Education Academy continues to educate clinicians from around the world.