Program Overview

Program Overview

Fiscal Year 2006

The United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation, a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, was incorporated in 1955 as a national organization in the non-government sector for the stimulation of needed research, to assist in professional education and to provide for public information relevant to cerebral palsy and related developmental brain injury. It is governed by voluntary officers and a Board of Directors, each of whom is elected annually. The FY 2006 Foundation President was Mr. James C. Stearns; the Chair of the Foundation Board of Directors was Mr. Paul A. Volcker; the Chair of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council was Murray Goldstein, DO, former Foundation Director. Upon Dr. Goldstein’s retirement on September 30, 2005, Mindy Lipson Aisen, MD assumed responsibility as Foundation Director and CEO.

The Foundation receives financial contributions and grants from a variety of sources including individuals, trusts and bequests, industry (undesignated funds), other organizations and foundations, the Combined Federal Campaign, and the United Cerebral Palsy Associations. In fiscal year 2005, the Foundation’s activities included investigator-initiated research grants, Foundation-initiated targeted research projects, scientific workshops, clinical investigator career enhancement awards, institutional post-doctoral training grants and the development and distribution of professional and public information materials. The Foundation works closely with: professional societies (e.g. American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine), government agencies (e.g. National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research); other non-government organizations (e.g. William Randolph Hearst Foundations, The Dana Foundation, F.M. Kirby Foundation); universities, medical schools, hospitals, research institutes, and with the United Cerebral Palsy Associations (UCPA) and its national network of affiliates.

In October 2002, The Foundation Board of Directors, assisted by scientific and administrative consultants, developed a Strategic Plan to govern Foundation activities for the future. The Plan documents areas of research and educational priorities, Board membership and responsibilities, and the administrative structure and financial goals of the Foundation. The Plan continues to be the administrative basis for the Foundation’s activities.

RESEARCH PROGRAM

The primary objectives of the Foundation’s research activities are the prevention of cerebral palsy and improvement in the quality of life of persons with disabilities due to cerebral palsy and related motor control disorders of the developing brain. In accordance with its Strategic Plan and with the advice of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council, the Foundation identified the following research areas for priority attention for Fiscal Years 2003-2005:

The biology of factors and mechanisms which adversely affect the developing brain resulting in cerebral palsy and/or disorders associated with cerebral palsy (e.g. visual system impairment).
The development and evaluation of research methodologies for use in studies of the etiologies, pathobiologies, prevention, diagnosis or therapy of cerebral palsy and the impairments or disabilities associated with it.
The development of interventions to prevent developmental brain damage associated with cerebral palsy.
The development and evaluation of interventions for improved diagnosis or clinical management of the biological impairments or functional disabilities associated with cerebral palsy.
The effects of aging on persons with disabilities due to cerebral palsy; the prevention and treatment of increased disability.

Search our Site

UCP Research & Educational Foundation