Studying SCI (Episode 124)
Guest: James Krause
Today’s guest is Dr. James Krause. James is a Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurologic Conditions at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Krause has worked in the field of spinal cord injury throughout his career focusing on research designed to improve health, employment, and participation for people with SCI and other disabilities.
We talk to James about his career, his work with the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund, and how current funding cuts may affect state research programs. We also talk about tracking SCI outcomes and data over time and how that work contributes to statistical products like the SCI Facts and Figures at a Glance sheet.
James has been at this work for a long time and is a treasure trove of information - let's get started!
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Soundcloud
Bumper music: Dig a Hole by Freaque
Guest Bio
James S. Krause, PhD, is a Distinguished University Professor in the MUSC College of Health Professions (CHP) and is the Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurologic Conditions. He obtained his PhD in counseling psychology from the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1990 and spent 13 years at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to the Medical University of South Carolina (M U S C). He has worked in the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) throughout his career focusing on research designed to improve health, employment, and participation for people with SCI and, more recently, other types of disability. He is particularly focused currently on promoting quality employment throughout the work lifecycle, rather than simply improving employment rates, and the attendant care and health care needs of people with the most severe physical disabilities. Although an average student in high school, he went on to complete his undergraduate and PhD at the University of Minnesota. He has been honored with many awards over the years including the Gov.’s award for excellence in scientific research in South Carolina (2023) and the National Medtronic Courage Award (2011), previously given to Sen. Bob Dole, Sen. Max Cleeland, actor and activist Christopher Reeve, physicist Stephen Hawking, and activist Judith Heuman. His work was inspired by his on high level SCI which occurred when he was 16, back in 1971 and the rehabilitative services he received in 1974. He is most proud of having been honored to lead a study of people with SCI living in community, with his involvement dating back to 1984 and the study having gone on since 1973. The lives of the research participants, many over 50 plus years after SCI, stand as living monuments to the endurance and determination of those with SCI.
Related Resources
-
The Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems was created in 1970 as a prospective longitudinal multicenter study on demographics and the use of services by people with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) in the United States.
-
Promoting research to develop better understanding of causes and effective treatment strategies for paralysis, sensory loss, and other consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI) and disease.
This Episode Sponsored By:
