For more than 60 years, TIRR Memorial Hermann has attracted visionary clinicians and researchers who have done groundbreaking work and built a reputation for innovation in clinical care, research, education and advocacy for people with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other disabilities. We are honored to be designated a National Rehabilitation Innovation Center by the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden through the passage of the Dr. Joanne Smith Memorial Rehabilitation Innovation Centers Act of 2022. Over 10 years in the making, the act recognizes pioneering rehabilitation research facilities and ensures the dissemination of evidence-based practice to shape the future of post-acute care in ways that optimize patient outcomes.
We are also pleased that the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research has awarded us another five-year cycle of funding as a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System and a Spinal Cord Injury Model System. Thanks to our NIDILRR funding, our designation as a National Rehabilitation Innovation Center and our dedicated team of clinicians and researchers, we continue to create hope for people with disabilities, develop leading-edge programs and protocols, and train future clinicians, here and around the world.
TIRR Memorial Hermann also is one of six sites in the U.S. chosen to be part of the Schwartz Center’s Healing Healthcare Initiative (HHI), a senior leadership team education and support program for organizational change. HHI will help us reimagine the workplace in ways that support our team’s well-being and enhance inclusion, allowing all of us to focus on providing compassionate care to the most complex patients in a highly supportive culture.
At some point in our lives, we will all be touched by disability—if not ourselves, then a family member. With that in mind, we continue to strive toward even more innovative solutions for our patients and their families, without forgetting the art of genuine caring.
Rhonda Abbott, PT, FTPTA
Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer
TIRR Memorial Hermann
System Executive for Rehabilitation Services
Memorial Hermann Health System
Nationally Ranked Rehabilitation
For the 34th consecutive year, TIRR Memorial Hermann is recognized as the best rehabilitation hospital in Texas and No. 4 in the nation according to U.S. News and World Report's "Best Rehabilitation Hospitals" in America.
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