UAB professor obtains renewal of $ 3.6 million LEND grant – News

Sarah O’Kelley, Ph.D. of UAB, has successfully renewed a $ 3.6 million grant from Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
(Photograph: Steve Wood)For more than 30 years, the University of Alabama at Birmingham received the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities grant, funded by the Office of Maternal and Child Health. A UAB professor has now succeeded in securing a renewal of the grant for an additional five years.

Sarah O’Kelley, Ph.D., Associate Professor at College of Arts and Sciences‘ Department of Psychology and assistant professor at the Department of Pediatrics, and his team, based in Civitan Sparks Clinics, led the successful renewal that will provide $ 3.6 million to UAB TO LEND training program.

With the funding, LEND will develop a summer program for minority undergraduate students interested in interdisciplinary care for people with developmental disabilities, and increase the capacity of telehealth services and training initiatives.

Grant funding will also provide interdisciplinary training to graduate trainees in 12 clinical disciplines and care, as well as engagement with community and state partners in policy and advocacy.

The UAB LEND program, formerly led by the late Fred Biasini, Ph.D., is committed to providing direct services as well as expanding knowledge regarding human development from a life course perspective.

“Our former director and principal investigator, Dr Biasini, passed away suddenly at the end of September; the call for this grant was launched in November and was due in February, ”said O’Kelley. “He and I had worked together on the two previous submissions; but this required a pretty big overhaul of previous applications, and our interdisciplinary team at Civitan-Sparks Clinics really came together to prepare the submission.

The LEND grant is a competitive renewal process that takes place every five years, and O’Kelley said the team was relieved and thrilled to receive renewed funding.

“The success of the grant renewal means a lot,” she said. “First of all, it allows us to continue the LEND-focused work at UAB that is Fred’s legacy, but it also allows us to build on that foundation to respond to current challenges in the area of ​​breast disorders. development. ”

In addition to the funded LEND program, the University Center of Excellence for Intellectual Disabilities, also led by O’Kelley, has received nearly $ 650,000 to support ongoing work within the program for the coming year.

The LEND and UCEDD programs are hosted in the Psychology Department of UAB in collaboration with the Pediatrics Department and the Civitan International Research Center.