Plan Draft Auspiciously Arrives During CP Awareness Month!

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a draft of its strategic plan for cerebral palsy last week and invited the public to comment on it. The Cerebral Palsy Research Network (CPRN) is highlighted in the summary as an outcome of the initial work that formed the basis of the plan. Numerous CPRN leaders participated in the two meetings that formed the building block of the 5-10-year strategic plan.

While the plan accurately captures the recommendations of these two meetings, it contains a lengthy list of “priorities.” The public comment period provides an excellent mechanism for members of the CP community and researchers to comment on the plan and potentially fill in gaps or hone the priorities listed. Organizations are encouraged to consolidate their recommendations and submit them by April 7, 2017. CPRN will leverage is work on the Research CP initiative to provide a set of recommendations to NIH regarding the plan. Others not connected with the Research CP initiative, should consider adding their comments to the plan.

CPRN congratulates Reaching for the Stars, a foundation for hope for children with cerebral palsy, for its efforts to get NIH to create this strategic plan. Their adept focus on Congressional leaders has significantly influenced this initiative within NIH. CPRN also congratulates its partner CP NOW for the creation of its CP Toolkit as it fulfills one of the key recommendations from the NIH strategic plan to create a 100 day resource for families with new diagnoses of cerebral palsy.