Brain Injury

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Organizers of the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT today announced a fundraising campaign to support the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s ongoing research to develop new and innovative treatments for children recovering from brain injuries. The initiative, which provides race fans with an opportunity to make voluntary $1 donations to Kennedy Krieger when purchasing Grand Prix tickets online, will enable the institute to expand its work to identify transformative brain injury rehabilitation techniques.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appointed Dr. Stacy Suskauer, Director of Brain Injury Rehabilitation Programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute, to a work group developing clinical diagnosis and management guidelines for acute mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) among children and teens.

When I started at Kennedy Krieger Middle School, I was very frustrated and angry because I did not think I needed to be here. Slowly, though, I began to see that Kennedy Krieger was the right school for me. But it took time. Today I realize that I needed to be here to get the education I needed, because I might not have done as well anywhere else.

In October 2008, Ryne Dougherty, a 16-year-old New Jersey teenager and junior linebacker for his high school football team, was in the middle of a game when he suffered a blow to his head -- just three and a half weeks after another on-field tackle left him with a concussion. This time, he was removed from the game and sent to the hospital, where they found bleeding in his brain. He died two days later.

Baltimore, MD -- In a step towards improving rehabilitation for patients with walking impairments, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute found that non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellum, an area of the brain known to be essential in adaptive learning, helped healthy individuals learn a new walking pattern more rapidly. The findings suggest that cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may be a valuable therapy tool to aid people relearning how to walk following a stroke or other brain injury.

It was a perfect day at the beach. The sun was shining, and the water was just right. Ben and his friends splashed in the waves and built sand castles, while his mom Joanne and the other parents chatted under the umbrellas, keeping a watchful eye on the children. But as the day came to a close, everyone headed back to the house, just a few blocks away.