Burke Rehabilitation Hospital

The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital is a non-profit, 150-bed acute rehabilitation hospital located in White Plains, New York. It is the only hospital in Westchester County entirely dedicated to rehabilitation medicine and is one of the few facilities of its kind to have an attached medical research institute conducting basic, translational and clinical research related to neurology and rehabilitation. Opened in 1915, Burke has been a leader in medical rehabilitation for nearly one hundred years.

Burke provides inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to patients with a broad range of neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac and pulmonary disabilities caused by disease or injury. Burke treats patients who have suffered a stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputations, joint replacements, complicated fractures, cardiac disease, arthritis and pulmonary disease as well as neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Multiple Sclerosis.^[2]

After intensive inpatient therapy, many patients move on to the tailored outpatient programs for a continuum of care. Outpatient services include physical and occupational therapy, speech, language and swallowing therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, an arthritis center, an osteoporosis screening service and varying levels of exercise programs through the Burke Fitness Center.^[3] Burke also provides support groups and educational programs.

Patients are generally from the eastern United States, but Burke also sees patients from other parts of the U.S. and abroad. It has approximately 600 employees and 14 full-time physicians.^[2]

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. These two accrediting organizations are the gold standard in acute care rehabilitation hospitals in the United States today. Since 1968, Burke Rehabilitation hospital has been affiliated with the Weill Cornell Medical College.^{[citation needed]}

History

The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital was established by John Masterson Burke through his Winifred Masterson Burke Relief Foundation, named in honor of his mother. The hospital opened its doors April 1915 and initially treated patients for pneumonia, ulcers, fatigue, cardiac and thyroid disease.

Along with medical supervision and treatments, the hospital’s early programs also called for rigorous exercise and daily chores. It was one of the first institutions to encourage moderate exercise for cardiac patients and eventually helped found the American Heart Association in 1924.

During World War I, Burke was used as a naval hospital and served 2,000 sailors who became known as “Burke’s Navy.” The hospital’s services were needed again after World War II when the number and nature of injuries suffered by veterans led to a renewed emphasis on physical and occupational therapies, improvements to prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs, and the development of community services.

In 1951, the same year the hospital became formally known as its The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, its focus became multi-disciplinary medical rehabilitation. Today, the hospital specializes in recovery from physical disabilities due to stroke, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders, cardiac disease, chronic pulmonary disease, arthritis, orthopedics and amputation.^[4]

Programs

The hospital provides the following services:^[5]

• Fitness programs
• Geriatric services
• Health fairs and health screenings
• Neurological rehabilitation
• Orthopedic rehabilitation
• Pain management and end-of-life services
• Pastoral care
• Physical rehabilitation
• Psychiatric services
• Sports medicine
• Social Work/case management and assistance with government services
• Support groups
• Wound management services
• Others

Burke Medical Research Institute

The Burke Medical Research Institute is the research arm of Burke Rehabilitation and includes the Dementia Research Laboratories and the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory. In addition to the clinical trials, the institute conducts research into pulmonary disease, head injury, stroke, Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders with which rehabilitation is concerned. Burke scientists also teach at Burke’s affiliate, Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City,^[6] which it has been affiliated with since 1968.^[7]

The Burke Medical Research Institute also trains scientists and physicians in clinically applicable research related to brain protection and repair. As part of the culture of teaching, the institute also aids post-doctoral fellows/junior scientists in transitioning into principal investigators. Additionally, the institute hosts a weekly seminar series that brings a nationally or internationally recognized expert in the areas of neuroscience, developmental biology and clinical research.

Along with educating its scientists, the institute also educates the public about the risks of stroke, spinal cord injury and other neurological diseases and how to avoid these risks. It informs the public about available, proven approaches to enhance rehabilitation in neurological diseases and about the research endeavors at Burke that seek to directly improve the ability to reduce disability. These programs come in the form of educational forums, symposia and small patient focus groups.^[8]

Notable Staff

There are several Burke doctors who are in U.S. News & World Report's Top Doctors list. These doctors cover seven specialty areas and were selected based on a peer nomination process. The doctors are:^[9]

• Ellen Gitler, M.D., endocrinologist, with special expertise in cardiac rehabilitation;
• Barry Jordan, M.D., neurologist, specializing in brain injury, sports neurology, concussion and memory disorder. He has been featured in numerous publications and was recently featured on CNN and The Journal News. He was also selected as one of Westchester Magazine’s top doctors in Westchester County. Dr. Jordan also heads the hospital’s Memory Evaluation and Treatment Service, which provides comprehensive outpatient assessment and treatment of memory disorders that could be the first signs of diseases such as dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease;^[10]
• Bento Mascarenhas, M.D., rheumatologist, with special expertise in arthritis, lupus/SLE and osteoporosis;
• Richard Novitch, M.D., pulmonologist, specializing in pulmonary rehabilitation;
• Karen Pechman, M.D., physiatrist, specializing in electrodiagnosis, musculoskeletal disorders, amputee rehabilitation, pain management and sports injuries. She was also selected as one of Westchester Magazine’s top doctors in Westchester County;
• Michael Reding, M.D., neurologist, who specializes in neuro-rehabilitation; and
• Sudhir Vaidya, M.D., family medicine, with special expertise in geriatric rehabilitation, pain management and sports medicine.

Two other notable Burke doctors are Argyios Stampas, M.D., director of spinal cord injury medicine, and Pasquale Fonzetti,^[11] M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the Institutional Review Board and associate director of the Memory Evaluation and Treatment Service (METS). Dr. Stampas was recently featured in a Westchester Magazine article on the pseudobulbar affect, a condition characterized by sudden outbursts of involuntary crying or laughing and occurs in people with neurological conditions or brain injuries.^[12] He also presented on this topic at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s 2011 assembly. Along with his work at the hospital, Dr. Fonzetti has conducted numerous research projects on stroke.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Notable Researchers

• Harriet Baker, Ph.D., neuroscience professor at Weill Cornell Medical College: The goal of Dr. Baker’s research is to assess the molecular mechanisms that specify phenotypic choice during development and by the adult generated neurons. The understanding of dopaminergic differentiation gained from this project can be used in the research for Parkinson’s Disease treatments. It can also be used as a model for inducing the dopamine phenotype in stem cells isolated from other systems.^[18]
• Jason Carmel, M.D., Ph.D., director of Burke’s Motor Recovery Laboratory: Dr. Carmel’s laboratory focuses on the recovery of motor function after injury to the central nervous system. His research is focused on the corticospinal system, which connects the motor cortex to the spinal cord.^[19] He has won several awards to fund his work, including the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s Individual Research Grant in 2010 and the 2009 Irving Institute/CTO Award.
• Sunghee Cho, M.D., Ph.D., director of Burke’s PreClinical Stroke Recovery Core: One of the goals of Dr. Cho's laboratory is to understand the mechanisms of injury triggered by ischemic stroke. The lab is studying the role of CD36 (a molecule that is involved in hardening of the arteries) in post-ischemic inflammation associated with ischemic injury using experimental animal models of stroke to determine structural, biochemical, and functional outcomes.^[20] Dr. Cho has been awarded an Administrative Supplement from the Clinical & Translational Science Centre for her project on the role of human variant BDNF in stroke recovery. She has published her work in numerous journals including the Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine; Stroke, Journal of the American Heart Association, The Journal of Neuroscience and The Journal of Molecular Medicine.
• Gary Gibson, Ph.D., director of the Burke Laboratory for Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolic Dysfunction in Neurodegeneration: Dr. Gibson’s research focuses on discovering the underlying cause of and to develop effective therapies for age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington diseases.^[21] His work has been published in numerous journals.
• Andrew Goldfine, M.D., neurologist: Dr. Goldfine specializes in neurology and translation medicine and has received his M.D. from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He works in both Burke hospital and research institute.^[22] His research projects have been published in numerous works, including the Neurologic Clinics.
• Glen Prusky, Ph.D., director of Burke’s Center for Vision Restoration:^[23] Dr. Prusky’s laboratory focuses on understanding the nature of adaptive change in the nervous system using the rodent visual system as the primary model. His research explores the mechanisms underlying experience-dependent plasticity of vision, treatments for retinal degenerative disease and the development of rehabilitative strategies for stroke. Dr. Prusky is also investigating the mechanisms underlying visual discrimination learning, visual recognition memory, cross-modal plasticity and retinal coding.^[24]
• Rajiv Ratan, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the Burke Medical Research Institute and professor of neurology, neuroscience and rehab medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College: Dr. Ratan’s laboratory is interested in understanding how pathological stimuli can activate programs of cell death in neurons.^[25] One of his research projects, done in conjunction with Michael Schlossmacher, M.D., has been awarded a translational research grant from the Harvard Neuro Discovery Center. The project focuses on activating the unfolded protein stress response for Parkinson’s Disease treatment. Prior to becoming director of the Burke Research Institute, Dr. Ratan was an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Neurology. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from New York University Medical Scientist Training Program.^[26]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Joint Commission
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
• U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals List
• Top Doctors list
• CNN
• The Journal News
• JAMA
• The New England Journal of Medicine
• The Lancet Neurology
• Neurology
• Stroke
• Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
• Irving Institute/CTO Award
• Neurologic Clinics
• Harvard Neuro Discovery Center
• Clinical & Translational Science Centre
• Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine
• Stroke, Journal of the American Heart Association
• The Journal of Neuroscience
• The Journal of Molecular Medicine