Shriner's Hospitals Research

Shriners Hospitals have been actively engaged in clinical research since the opening of the first hospital in 1922. However, in the early 1960s, Shriners Hospitals aggressively entered the structured research field and began earmarking funds for their research projects. Since that time, Shriners Hospitals have been at the vanguard of connective tissue and burn research, significantly adding to the progress that has been made in orthopaedic and burn care during the past few decades.

Some of the research projects now underway at the Shriners Burns Institutes include studies on how to prevent scar formation; why and how certain drugs (particularly for pain) react differently in burned children; studies in nutrition and lung functions after burn injuries; and infections in burns. Orthopaedic research projects include studies on genetics and its relationship to bone disease; the search for a cure for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; and biochemical and clinical investigations of the hereditary disorders of connective tissue.

One of the most exciting projects now under way is called functional neuromuscular stimulation (FNS). FNS has been designed as a tool to restore standing, walking and hand-grasp function to paralyzed children. Although FNS is a research project and not a clinical program, the study may someday help develop a practical FNS system to aid paralyzed children during their daily activities.

What began as a $21,000 allocation less that 30 years ago has blossomed into an international research program involving 22 hospitals and a $20 million budget in 1994 alone.



Updated: March 19, 2003