Dr. Preeti Raghavan, director of the Rusk Institute’s Motor Recovery Research Laboratory, uses a high-tech glove studded with sensors to study the complex mechanics of a basic, vital function of the hand: grasping.

Rusk Extends Its Reach

Building on a Unique, Enduring Legacy, the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Forges a New Chapter in Its History

Only a few research laboratories anywhere study how the human hand interacts with the world around it, and one of them can be found at NYU Langone Medical Center’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. As director of Rusk’s newly created Motor Recovery Research Laboratory, Preeti Raghavan, MD, assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine, investigates how brain injury affects motor skills—particularly the essential function of grasping—in patients afflicted by a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or neuromuscular disease. "Much of the improvement in function or dexterity is a result of the brain’s compensation strategies rather than true recovery of the impairment," she explains. "We don’t understand why some patients recover better than others, or even how therapy actually works. Here, we dissect the components of physical therapy to develop more efficient strategies to retrain the brain."

The establishment of Dr. Raghavan’s highly specialized research program says much about how the institute is advancing rehabilitation medicine, as well as where Rusk—the world’s first university-affiliated facility devoted entirely to rehabilitation—is headed. "There is a great need for this type of research," says Steven Flanagan, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. "We need to demonstrate not only that rehabilitation works, but which aspects or treatments are most effective."

Long renowned for its know-how, Rusk is increasingly focused on the know-why, as reflected in its expanding research portfolio, directed by Tamara Bushnik, PhD, associate professor of rehabilitation medicine. Rusk has been named the best rehabilitation hospital in New York State and one of the top 10 in the country since 1989, when U.S. News & World Report introduced its annual "best hospitals" rankings. Now, the institute that invented the concept of comprehensive, multidisciplinary rehabilitation is reinventing itself for the 21st century. Rusk’s outmoded facility at 400 East 34th Street—headquarters of the institute since 1951—will be demolished in 2012 to make room for the new Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion. Over the next two years, its programs will move to new quarters, both on and off campus. These sites will house modernized equipment and facilities, and many programs will be relocated near related medical specialties.

The inpatient adult rehabilitation program and the inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation programs will move to 17th Street in the Hospital for Joint Diseases building. Complex adult rehabilitation will be relocated to the ninth floor of the Schwartz Health Care Center, where it will co-reside with cardiac rehabilitation, which is currently housed there. Rusk’s administrative offices, educational programs, research, and nonmusculoskeletal outpatient services will move to newly acquired space in the Verizon II building at 38th Street between Second and Third Avenues. Outpatient musculoskeletal rehabilitation programs will be housed in the new Musculoskeletal Institute at 38th Street and First Avenue, providing orthopaedic patients with both treatment and rehabilitation under one roof.

"Ongoing national healthcare reform affords us an opportunity to provide a broader patient population with closer and greater access to our expertise," explains Dr. Flanagan. "We’re currently the largest inpatient rehabilitation facility in New York City, but rehab patients are increasingly going to be treated in a wide range of outpatient settings. We have a robust strategy for expanding our outpatient services." Rusk will establish clinics in Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, he reports, and will work more closely with home healthcare providers, as well. "Expanding the Rusk name—and the high-quality care that is our hallmark—into more neighborhoods will bring us to patients instead of patients to us," adds Dr. Flanagan, "and allow a greater number of people to access our services.

"More than a location or even our name, what defines Rusk and makes us special is our people—the doctors, nurses, therapists, researchers, and staff— who work tirelessly to improve the lives of our patients and set the standard for rehabilitation medicine," Dr. Flanagan says, as a reminder to those who lament the loss of the institute’s historic building. "When patients come to Rusk, we’re committed to them for life. Our aim is to be in a position where we can provide Rusk quality care to all of our patients, wherever they might be and whenever they might need us."

Helping Hands, Caring Hearts