Collaborative Spine Research Foundation Opens Research Agenda-setting to Public - 50+ Topics Recommended in First Two Weeks

ROSEMONT, Ill., July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Collaborative Spine Research Foundation (Collaborative Spine), a nonprofit fundraising and grants administration organization dedicated to advancing the science and practice of the highest quality spine care, has received more than 50 topics after issuing an open invitation to all stakeholders on July 2, to assist in establishing its research agenda.

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"Our organization is deeply committed to a collaborative process," said Collaborative Spine Board of Directors Member Paul McCormick, M.D., MPH, FAANS. "We want to hear from everyone who has an interest in better spine care through clinical research, those who provide care, receive care, assist care givers or play a role in shaping access to care."

All interested parties are encouraged to participate through an online process. Dr. McCormick and two board colleagues, Zoher Ghogawala, M.D., FAANS, FACS; and Peter S. Rose, M.D., are leading the agenda-setting initiative and have prepared a backgrounder (http://www.aans.org/CSRFAdvisoryCouncilOverview.PDF) that outlines the types of research that the foundation will fund and criteria for setting research priorities. After reviewing the backgrounder, stakeholders are invited to submit recommended research topics through an online questionnaire (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSRF_Questionnaire). The questionnaire will be accessible through August 15, 2012.

All recommendations received will be reviewed by the foundation's Research Agenda Advisory Council—comprised of representatives from clinical and academic medicine, clinical spine research and industry, including medical technology, health services and insurance organizations. The Collaborative Spine board of directors will formalize the Research Agenda based on Advisory Council recommendations, and will publish its top ten clinical research priorities for spine care in early fall 2012.

The Collaborative Spine Research Foundation was co-founded in December 2011 by the American Association of Neurosurgeons/Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) and Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF). The Collaborative Spine board of directors consists of equal numbers of orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons, as well as a physician from a third medical specialty, currently anesthesiology. The foundation's application for 501(c)(3) status is pending. For more information about the co-founding organizations, please visit www.aans.org/en/NREF.aspx and www.oref.org

SOURCE Collaborative Spine Research Foundation