Marquette University assistant professor of physical therapy Kristi Streeter has received a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Streeter and her team will use the NIH funding for research to improve independent breathing function after a cervical spinal cord injury. Paralysis of the diaphragm and other breathing impairments are the primary causes of illness and death following a cervical spinal cord injury, according to a Marquette University news release.
“At the moment, there are limited treatment options to improve breathing and manage respiratory disfunction in patients with cervical spinal cord injury that go beyond mechanical ventilation,” Streeter said.