Shriners Hospitals for Children Opens New Pediatric Research Center

Shriners Hospitals for Children— Philadelphia has opened its new Pediatric Research Center in the Temple University Medical School Education and Research Building, located just across the street from the hospital. 

The basic science laboratory has approximately 23,000 square feet of office and laboratory space that will be used to carry out research focusing in the repair of injured brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The new center has the capacity to accommodate up to 15 more investigators. 

Michael Selzer, M.D., Ph.D., will lead the Pediatric Research Center. He was previously with the University of Pennsylvania and for the past two and half years also served as director of rehabilitation research and development for the Department of Veterans Affairs. A leader in spinal cord injury research, Dr. Selzer is president of the World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation. 

Dr. Selzer will be teaming up with Randal Betz, M.D., Chief of Staff  of Shriners Hospitals for Children— Philadelphia; Spine Surgeon Amer Samdani, M.D., and Mary Jane Mulcahey, Ph.D., director of physical therapy research and the hospital. This team combines new basic science research with the clinical research that has been ongoing at Shriners Hospitals for Children for more than 20 years. The goal is to develop more effective treatments for children with spinal and neuromuscular disorders.