April, 2022 – On Friday, March 25, Jackson Health Foundation, along with Jackson Health System, UHealth – University of Miami Health System, and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis hosted a dedication event celebrating the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at UHealth/Jackson Memorial. An award was presented to philanthropist Christine E. Lynn for her generous $25 million donation to The Miami Project and Jackson Health Foundation, which helped fund the center’s construction.
Lynn Rehabilitation Center opened in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing plans to celebrate the facility opening to be put on hold. It was built to be one of the premier rehabilitation hospitals in the nation, and over the last two years, has realized its purpose by uniting world-class researchers from The Miami Project, UHealth physicians, and Jackson therapists under one roof to provide patients with care to help them get their lives back after spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, cancer, and other complex conditions. Steeped in state-of-the-art technology, the 250,000-square-foot facility features 80 inpatient beds, an aquatic center, driving simulator, rooftop terrace, meditation space, transition apartments, an activity garden, and more.
“We knew this project was going to raise the standard for care – not just in South Florida, but across the country and around the world,” Carlos A. Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health System, said at the event. “Thanks to Christine Lynn, the University of Miami, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County, we opened a facility in March 2020 that finally gave our top-quality therapists, doctors, and nurses the resources and appearance that matched their clinical skills.”
“The Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center is yet another shining example of what happens when we combine our strengths,” said Dr. Julio Frenk, president of the University of Miami. “Together, we have created a specialty program that is transforming medical science, and the lives of those in our community and around the world.”
Barth A. Green, MD, co-founder and chairman of The Miami Project and UHealth executive dean for global health and community service, said of the center, “Lynn Rehabilitation Center not only represents a new beacon of hope for these very special patients and their families, but most important, is a unique facility where cutting-edge scientific and engineering knowledge is being translated into clinical care in real time, to the direct benefit of even the most complex and compromised patients.”
Marc Buoniconti, president of The Miami Project noted, “The best trauma center in the world, the best patient care in the world, and the best rehabilitation center in the world, and The Miami Project is at the center of it all. The entire team is focused on delivering on my dad’s promise that we will find a cure for paralysis.”
“I am grateful and humbled to be able to help in constructing the life-changing facility we now finally see before us, to the benefit of the thousands of patients with spinal cord injury who will be able to rehab and recover using the most cutting-edge technologies known to medicine,” said Mrs. Lynn during the celebration.
To commemorate the day, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman presented Ms. Lynn with a proclamation on behalf of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
