ABSTRACT
The need for rehabilitation in children is immense, with figures suggesting that 3.3 million US children have an
ongoing need for rehabilitation therapy, 1.1 million have persistent mobility impairments, and an additional 1
million need rehabilitation to restore function after injury. Our ability to generate evidence from the traditional
iterative trial and error process of rehabilitation (evaluate–treat–re-evaluate–adjust) has been complicated by
inconsistency in the selection of outcomes and treatment regimens across patients, and not surprisingly, has led
to wide variability in outcomes. Implementation of precision-medicine to physical rehabilitation moves away from
both “one-size-fits-all” and trial-and-error approaches to therapy and instead embraces a personalized approach
by considering genetic and epigenetic influences and social determinants of health to match “the right
intervention, at the right time, to the right individual.” This conference grant proposal seeks support for the
Research Summit 6 (RS6) meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association Academy of Pediatrics (APTA
Pediatrics), “Precision Rehabilitation Research for Children with Neuromotor Conditions.” Spanning an intensive
1-full and 2-half day period, RS6 will be the first conference in pediatric physical rehabilitation dedicated to
precision rehabilitation. It will leverage the strong record of success of APTA Pediatrics' previous five research
summits that have resulted in over $15 million in subsequent funding to date from federal and foundation
sources. Critical to the implementation of a precision medicine approach to pediatric physical rehabilitation is
representation of a diverse cohort of scientists, clinicians, and parents/children. The RS6 meeting will include
interdisciplinary lectures, a keynote address, caregiver/consumer and sponsorship/funding panels, large and
small group discussions, and unique networking opportunities to achieve our proposed aims of [1] providing
interdisciplinary and didactic content to support the translation of precision medicine to pediatric physical
rehabilitation, [2] identifying current gaps in knowledge and critical research challenges necessary to advance
pediatric precision rehabilitation, and [3] fostering growth of pediatric precision rehabilitation research. Funds
from this award will complement monetary support already procured from APTA Pediatrics that will fund
the essentials of the meeting and up to 4 subsequent pilot/planning research grants submitted by RS6
participants. Supplemental support is requested from NICHD and NINDS which will ensure diversity in both RS6
content and attendance, including supporting additional speakers and providing stipends to support participation
from students who identify as a member of a minority group or subgroup. In addition to cultivating novel
collaborations in pediatric precision rehabilitation, the main outcomes of RS6 are to develop a replicable model
of precision rehabilitation over the lifespan and impart a common set of terminology among disciplines.
