In 2002, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR) were awarded a five-year grant by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to be a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS). Following re-competitions in 2007 and 2012, the North Texas TBI Model System has been awarded two additional 5-year grants by NIDRR (grant #H133A070027 and H133A120098, respectively).

The 16 affiliated Model System centers located throughout the United States are responsible for gathering and submitting the core data set to the national database as well as conducting research studies on traumatic brain injury (TBI) both in collaboration with the other centers and within their own sites.

Through our research at the North Texas TBI Model System we hope to learn more about TBI and about the issues and concerns of people with TBI. Our goals are to improve the outcome and quality of life for people who have had brain injuries and for those who are caring for the person with a TBI.

North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System: A Collaborative Effort

With the awarding of the grant by NIDRR in 2002, an alliance was created between the two largest hospitals in the North Texas region to form the North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (NT-TBIMS). Parkland Health & Hospital System (PHHS) is the region's largest Level I trauma center and captures 60 percent of the region’s trauma. PHHS is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) is the second largest Level I trauma center in the region and receives 30 percent of the region’s trauma.

The bulk of TBI patients admitted to PHHS and BUMC who require inpatient rehabilitation obtain such care at one of our three collaborating rehabilitation units: Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), the inpatient rehabilitation unit at PHHS, or the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, one of UT Southwestern's two hospitals. In 2012, John Peter Smith Hospital, located in Fort Worth, Texas, was added as an additional acute hospital site. With this addition, all of the Level I trauma centers in north Texas are now a part of the North Texas TBI Model System.

UT Southwestern, Parkland Health & Hospital System (PHHS), and Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) have collaborated for many years to provide outstanding clinical care and cutting-edge research. UT Southwestern is the only allopathic medical school in the North Texas region, and it is widely recognized as one of the leading medical schools in the United States for its leadership in basic and clinical research, training of medical students and post-graduate physicians, and excellence in patient care. It is the home of six Nobel Prize winners and 22 members of the National Academy of Sciences.

BUMC is the largest hospital in North Texas and for more than 100 years has provided outstanding medical care to the community. Due to its central location and reputation for excellence, BUMC and the UT Southwestern-affiliated hospitals serve a large catchment area including north Texas, west Texas, the panhandle of Texas, and the surrounding counties of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

In 2010, John Peter Smith (JPS) became a Level I trauma center. Until that time, Tarrant County was the most populous county in Texas without a Level I trauma center. JPS is a publicly funded county hospital and captures 23 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Level I encounters. All medical and surgical disciplines are available 24 hours a day in the recently completed acute medical facilities that incorporate the latest technology in the field of trauma services. We are pleased that JPS will, in the current funding, be a part of the North Texas TBI Model Systems in collaboration with UT Southwestern and Baylor.

The North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (NT-TBIMS) pools the efforts and talents of individuals from the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Psychiatry (Neuropsychiatry), and Neuroradiology of the three leading medical institutions in the North Texas region.

To be a patient involved in the research being conducted by the North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System you must have suffered a TBI, be at least 16 years of age, have received initial treatment for the TBI at either Parkland Health & Hospital System, Baylor University Medical Center, or John Peter Smith Hospital and then have received rehabilitative care at either Parkland, Zale Lipshy University Hospital, or Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation. The patient must also be able to understand and sign an informed consent to participate or, if unable, have a family member or a legal guardian who understands the form sign the informed consent for the patient.