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Our team of scientists, researchers, clinicians and staff work tirelessly to achieve extraordinary scientific progress in our quest to find a cure for paralysis.
The Education department provides information about research programs, clinical studies, resources for living with paralysis, rehabilitation resources, clinical care referrals, and advice on worldwide investigational treatments and research. They also offer educational tours, lectures and additional outreach events to promote scientific awareness.
Watch our latest video highlighting the incredible research at The Miami Project.
The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis was co-founded by Barth A. Green, M.D., world -renowned neurosurgeon, and Nick Buoniconti, NFL Hall of Fame linebacker after Nick’s son, Marc, sustained a spinal cord injury during a college football game.
Research at The Miami Project has changed the landscape of knowledge and therapeutic strategies for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.
Committed to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury and to seeing millions worldwide walk again, the Buoniconti family established The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis in 1992. The Buoniconti Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise funds and awareness to help The Miami Project achieve its primary focus; to repair and restore function to the injured and diseased nervous system, thereby improving the quality of life to patients throughout the world.
The Miami Project presents Meet the Researcher, a periodic video series where each video introduces a new researcher. We will hear from the brilliant up and coming scientists and researchers that are part of The Miami Project’s dynamic international team.
Director of Neuromotor Rehabilitation, The Miami Project
Assistant Professor, Departments of Neurological Surgery and Biomedical Engineering
Neuromotor Rehabilitation
Scientific Director
Neuroprotection and Improved Recovery of Function following Brain and Spinal Cord Injury
PARALYSIS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE.
Watch our stories of hope and inspiration from a few of our researchers and participants as they live and fight paralysis.
Dr. Deena Cilien, DPT, PT, is a graduate of the University of Miami's top-ranked clinical physical therapy program and currently works as one of our resident neuro physical therapists, specializing in spinal cord injury.
I chose to participate because I think it's pretty neat being part of finding a cure for something that is so big and affects so many lives.
I first fell in love with The Miami Project in 1986, while volunteering as one of the first research participants. I continue to return to participate in studies.
I suffered a spinal cord injury in 1983. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis really made a difference in my life.
Jerrod, was paralyzed in a car accident on his way to work a few years ago. He was left a T-12 paraplegic as a result of the incident.
Faces of Paralysis subject, Jazzmin, was diagnosed as a teenager with Neuromyelitis optica which occurs when immune system cells and antibodies attack the optic nerves and the spinal cord.
Richard was paralyzed as a result of a motorcycle accident on the way home that left him with a C-2 incomplete injury.
As part of June's recovery process at The Miami Project, she has been participating in research training programs to improve outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injury.
The Miami Project’s rich history of conducting team science research on a variety of neurological conditions has resulted in an important federal award. The Co-Principal Investigators Drs. W. Dalton Dietrich, PhD, Professor and Scientific Director, and Juan Pablo de Rivero Vaccari, PhD, Associate Professor have received a $1.6 million award, designated under the accelerated RF1 grant category by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The project is investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying traumatic brain injury as a clinically relevant risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias. Proposed aims will determine the role that increased inflammasome activation plays in this increased vulnerability, including the measurements of diagnostic biomarkers to aid in the early detection of these potentially injurious mechanisms.
Annalisa Heiss came to Miami as a 16-year-old to enroll in a clinical trial after a car accident and returned as a college student in the Henry G. Steinbrenner Scholars Program.
In 2019, Annalisa Heiss was in a car accident in her home state of Georgia. It left the then 16-year-old with a significant injury to her leg from a wooden pole that had punctured her groin. Her physical therapist recommended a clinical trial in Miami.
Eager to recover and regain her quality of life, Annalisa and her parents made the trip to South Florida to learn more about the research study.
“This is one of the first, if not the first, pivotal trial to be conducted in spinal cord injury that was successful in most of the participants,” said the study’s Miller School principal investigator James D. Guest, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurological surgery.