# VA RR&D Center for Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)

> **NIH VA I50** · LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

The Center on Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES Center) is a global leader in neurostimulation and
neuromodulation research that addresses the unmet rehabilitation needs of Veterans and civilians with
neurological, autonomic, psychiatric, pain, and other disorders. The Vision of the FES Center is to “transform
rehabilitation” by making truly substantial improvements in rehabilitation treatments and to develop novel,
effective rehabilitation treatments for unserved and underserved patient populations. The specific Mission of
the FES Center is to develop interventions based on external modulation of nervous systems to replace or
compensate for natural neural function lost due to neural disease or injury. Because the nervous system
directly controls or influences most body functions, and because FES systems "speak the language" of the
nervous system, FES can be used to address a broad range of neurological disorders. FES Center objectives
are purposely aligned with the clinical needs of Veterans and the priorities of the VA Rehabilitation R&D
Service. The scientific and administrative home of the FES Center is the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran
Affairs Medical Center, and an additional four institutions are included within the FES Center consortium: Case
Western Reserve University, MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals, and the Cleveland Clinic. The
FES Center nurtures and supports a multi-disciplinary research community by providing specialized shared
resources and infrastructure, leveraging its resources to have broad impact across a wide range of
rehabilitation challenges by enabling many investigator-led lines of rehabilitation research. The FES Center
attracts and maintains top research talent, strategically guides research directions to focus on Veteran
priorities, facilitates institutional synergies and individual collaborations, and provides unique support,
including: targeted infrastructure (e.g., equipment, laboratory space, statistical support, medical illustration,
bioethics guidance, rehabilitation needs assessments, clinical trials), local community building (through
seminars, retreats, social events, and “match making”), national leadership in rehabilitation research, and
strong connections to relevant industry and to VA and other translational research programs. FES Center
researchers perform cutting edge research across 5 different rehabilitation research thrusts: (1) Movement
Restoration, (2) Pain Mitigation, (3) Autonomic Restoration, (4) Brain Health, and (5) Translation and Clinical
Dissemination. These research thrusts cover a wide range of neurological disorders, and the FES Center
includes investigators with a matching wide range of expertise and clinical interests. The research thrusts
share several features, including (1) an understanding of the physiology and disorders of nervous systems, (2)
the fundamentals of activation-inactivation-modulation of nervous systems, (3) technology development to
provide pra...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11036239
- **Project number:** 5I50RX002359-07
- **Recipient organization:** LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert F. Kirsch
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-10-01 → 2027-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11036239

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11036239, VA RR&D Center for Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) (5I50RX002359-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11036239. Licensed CC0.

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