Foundation Announces Funding of Grants With Potential to Improve Care for Orthopaedic Patients

ROSEMONT, Ill., April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) announced today that in 2012 it is funding more than $1.8 million in grants aimed at developing better treatment options and improving care for patients with musculoskeletal diseases and injuries.

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Jonathan G. Schoenecker, M.D., Ph.D. received a $225,000 OREF Career Development Grant to study whether deficiency in plasminogen—a coagulation protein that degrades fibrin, the protein that aids in blood clotting—causes fibrin to accumulate and alter skeletal growth and development.

The foundation also awarded a $150,000 OREF Prospective Clinical Research Grant—given for a research project of vast clinical importance to orthopaedic surgery—to Ara Nazarian, DrSc to investigate if CT scan-based rigidity analysis can provide an objective method of determining risk of fractures in patients whose cancer has spread to their bone. Said Nazarian, "Successful application of this CT-based assessment will provide physicians with guidelines for selecting treatment options based on a patient's risk of fracture and response to therapy."

Thomas D. Brown, Ph.D. received a $20,000 OREF Clinical Research Award recognizing his leading more than 25 years of research on a set of problems occurring with hip replacements. The studies led to a series of recommendations, including optimal design features for and best position to implant components.

In addition, OREF awarded eight research grants to initiate projects that improve patients' clinical outcomes; two awards for completed research concerned with health care policy; 40 research grants to young investigators and residents; and 12 grants to support educational programs and traveling fellowships.

OREF received 250 requests for $13.4 million in funding in 2012. OREF's Peer Review Committee volunteers evaluated the scientific merit of each proposal through a rigorous peer-review process modeled after the National Institutes of Health. The proposals were then ranked, and funding decisions were made by the Research Grants Committee.

OREF is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization that seeks support from companies and individuals for clinically relevant research and education that contributes to improving orthopaedic care and quality of life for patients of all ages. OREF is the leading and most experienced administrator of grants for the advancement of orthopaedic specialty care, having awarded more than 4,000 grants and awards totaling $120 million through January 2012. www.oref.org

SOURCE Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation