HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced awards totaling more than
$8.1 million to 17 universities to train health professionals to work with children who have neurodevelopmental or related disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, autism or spina bifida, or who may be at risk of developing such disabilities.  
 
“These grants play an important role in serving special-needs children,” said Secretary Thompson.  “They enable health professionals to help families understand the nature of their child’s disability and teach them to access services in their communities.” 
 
The Leadership Education for Children with Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) grants provide interdisciplinary training to improve the clinical expertise and leadership skills of health professionals who treat children with disabilities.  The grants encourage doctors, nurses and psychologists to work together to prevent disabilities in children resulting from genetic or metabolic conditions and to identify signs of disability early enough for effective intervention.
 
In addition, social workers, speech pathologists, pediatric dentists, nutritionists and genetics experts promote practice models that encourage cultural competence by health professionals and the involvement of families in making decisions about their children’s care.   Parents and youth consultants with disabilities provide leadership training through the program.
   
“These training programs collaborate regularly with health, education and social service agencies to share resources and know-how and help get children with disabilities the care and services they need,” said Elizabeth M. Duke, administrator of HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the grants.
 
HRSA administers LEND grants through its Maternal and Child Health Bureau (http://mchb.hrsa.gov/).
 

Interdisciplinary Leadership Training in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program FY 2004
Organization	City	State	Amount
Children's Research Institute	Washington	D.C.	$365,000
Indiana University School of Medicine	Indianapolis	Ind.	490,000
University of Iowa	Iowa City	Iowa	500,000
The Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	Md.	1,000,000
Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School	Worcester	Mass.	615,000
Curators of Univ. of Missouri – Columbia	Columbia	Mo.	355,000
Nebraska Office of the Governor	Omaha	Neb.	390,000
Trustees of Dartmouth College	Hanover	N.H.	460,000
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	Bronx	N.Y.	500,000
Ohio State University	Columbus	Ohio	390,000
Univ. of Oklahoma Health Science Center	Oklahoma City	Okla.	450,000
Univ. of Pittsburgh, Greensburg Campus	Pittsburgh	Pa.	400,000
University of South Dakota	Vermillion	S.D.	440,000
Vanderbilt University Medical Center	Nashville	Tenn.	400,000
University of Vermont	Burlington	Vt.	460,000
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	Va.	460,000
West Virginia University Research Corp.	Morgantown	W.Va.	447,645
Total:			$8,122,645