WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), senior Democratic appropriator for science, research and technology, has had a long-standing interest in brain function, injury and cognitive skills. He recently took tours of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda and the Cullen Laboratory Neural Engineering in Neurotrauma at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Both visits provided firsthand knowledge of the cutting edge treatment given to those suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI).
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Each year some 1.7 million people suffer a traumatic brain injury. At the Cullen Laboratory officials explained their work on the development of engineering principles used to better understand the effects of trauma to the nervous system.
"Penn Medicine's Center for Brain Injury and Recovery is a place where patients are treated with the latest and most innovative procedures to deal with their brain injuries," said Fattah. "I am pleased that such a pioneering facility - located in my District - is instrumental in the ground-breaking treatment of traumatic brain injury."
During his visit to the NICoE, Fattah was briefed on the unique medical services offered to military members and their families who are dealing with TBI - the signature wound of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The work being done at the NICoE is remarkable," said Fattah. "It's a world class facility with the most advanced medical technology for treating military members suffering with traumatic brain injury. With some 300,000 veterans suffering from TBI combat-related injuries, we must do everything we can to ensure adequate funding and resources are available for treating our wounded warriors."
Dr. James Kelly, Director of NICoE said, "It was a pleasure and an honor to host Rep. Fattah here today at the NICoE. He has such a sophisticated understanding of the issues we face in taking care of our service members and their families, while also recognizing the need for conducting the research necessary to further the science of mild traumatic brain injury and psychological health conditions."
Congressman Fattah is the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies. He expects to make an announcement relating to future research in neuroscience in the coming days.
SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah
