This action is the largest single commitment in the Institution's history to research in a given field. The University of Kansas has a unique plan for the location of three research and research training units at the Kansas Medical Center, the main campus of the University at Lawrence, and the Parsons State Hospital and Training Center, an institution for the retarded. The long-range multidisciplinary research program is broadly conceived and focuses on biomedical and behavioral research relevant to mental retardation. Each of the three settings will emphasize a specific area of research. Studies at the Medical Center will include reproductive physiology, biochemistry, neurophysiology and fetal and neonatal pathophysiology. Studies on learning, language, and social behavior will also be conducted. At the Lawrence campus, research will feature residential and preschool studies of behavior and the processes of socialization, communication, and learning. The program at Parsons will stress research in training of children with deficits in language, socialization and adaptive behavior, in academic attainment and vocational skills. UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, DENVER COLORADO Strong research programs in neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavioral sciences, developmental pediatrics, cytogenetics, nutrition, developmental and lipid biochemistry, and neurochemistry form the basic science research core of the Colorado center. The Wheatridge State Home and Training School, the Colorado mental retardation training facility, and State and community health resources will provide additional resources for research through a coordinated program. Special studies in family and community health will be possible through these extra resources. Epidemiological and population genetic studies will be conducted among the special populations resident in Colorado and the Southwest. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA. The University of North Carolina Child Development and Mental Retardation Research Center plans a broad program of research involving medical, psychological, educational and social sciences. Two separate but administratively unified facilities will be constructed. The medical research facility will house a comprehensive research program including research in the clinical and basic sciences of medicine and health related disciplines. The psycho-educational facility will consist of a unique arrangement of educational and care facilities with supporting research laboratories. The central research theme will be long-term, longitudinal studies of retarded children and children at risk of becoming retarded. Beginning in infancy or early age and continuing through the elementary school years of the children will be provided with a carefully engineered program and environment designed to enhance their intellectual, social and emotional development. Medical research here will include studies of the impact of optimal health care and the consequences of infectious diseases on develop ment. Total cost of project: Federal Share: Date of Award: Estimated completion date: $3,423,241 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS An award for moveable research equipment was made to the University of Chicago to assist in equipping their Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Mental Retardation Research Center located in Wyler Children's Hospital. The research center is contiguous with the Chicago Lying-in-Hospital which provides a resource for studies of prematurity and obstetrical conditions leading to retarded development. Research in the center will focus on cytogenetics and population genetics, enzyme development, neurological and hematological investigations, biochemistry, virology, respiratory physiology, and developmental studies. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CENTER, MADISON, WISCONSIN The University of Wisconsin Center plans a broad, comprehensive research program involving the biomedical, behavioral, social and educational sciences. The Biomedical Sciences Unit will provide for research in neurophysiology, neurometabolism and nutrition, and neuroendocrinology and reproduction. Programs proposed for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Unit will focus on genetic and environmental factors in infant development; basic behavioral developmental processes; learning in educational situations; communication processes; and, family and social factors. The Central Wisconsin Colony will be closely integrated into the research and research training activities to assure coverage of the problems of the institutionalized retardate. A University-Affiliated Facility and program under common administration will provide a close relationship of center activities to clinical training. Total cost of project: Federal Share: Date of Award: Estimated completion date: $2,263,000 UNIVERSITY-AFFILIATED FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED The program of Federal assistance for the construction of UniversityAffiliated Facilities for the mentally retarded was authorized under P.L. 88-164, "The Mental Retardation Act of 1963", and extended until 1970 under the Mental Retardation Amendments of 1967 (P.L. 90-170). This program provides grants for the construction of University-Affiliated Facilities with programs for the mentally retarded and persons with related neurological handicapping conditions. Eighteen university-affiliated facilities have been approved for funding. The primary purpose of the University-Affiliated Facilities Construction program is to provide facilities for the clinical training of professional and technical personnel essential for diagnostic services and the care, education, training, and rehabilitation of the mentally retarded individual and his family. Each facility is encouraged to conduct a comprehensive interdisciplinary training program integrating and coordinating the full range of professional and technical personnel concerned with mental retardation so that each discipline may be fully familiar with its own contributions and those of related disciplines to the total effort in the field of mental retardation. A full range of individual and group services and demonstration of new techniques and concepts in services for the mentally retarded are considered important elements in University-Affiliated Facility programs, and research incidental or related to activities conducted within the facility is authorized. This construction program is administered by the Division of Mental Retardation, Rehabilitation Services Administration, Social and Rehabilitation Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The following descriptions review the types of facilities and programs which have been supported with these funds and the current status of their construction. |