Barth A. Green, M.D.

To our dear friends and supporters of The Buoniconti Fund and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, it seems like yesterday that I was shaking hands with Nick Buoniconti and joining forces to create The Miami Project. It was 36 years ago, shortly after his son Marc was paralyzed on the football field. Our focus was that the concept of “paralysis was forever” needed to be disproven. On that day, we committed to change medical and scientific history. Not by a prayer or dreams or hoping alone, but by creating good evidence-based research that could be translated into the clinics and operating rooms and ultimately become part of the practice of medicine globally. We have seen this happen at The Miami Project.

Changing the practice of medicine or surgery is a goal that few physicians or surgeons have ever achieved. Today, I am proud to claim this distinction, not as an individual, but as part of the prestigious Miami Project to Cure Paralysis team of scientists, clinicians, technicians, and graduate students who have worked together every day, 24/7 for the last 36 years to create a better life for people with catastrophic injuries and diseases of the nervous system. Yes, spinal cord injury is still our focus, but as part of that focus, it is natural that once you repair the spinal cord, you can also repair brain and peripheral nerve tissues because they are all anatomically and functionally connected.

Improving function, improving quality of life, improving opportunities, diminishing dependence and amplifying each individual’s independence has become our mantra!

Today, we are not just excited, but supercharged with enthusiasm about our new collaborators from the Departments of Engineering and Rehabilitation Medicine, as well as our long-term teammates from numerous other basic and clinical sciences.

It’s truly a new era.
Is Covid-19 a challenge? Yes.
Is global warming and our deteriorating environment a challenge? Yes.
Is social unrest and racial injustice a challenge? Yes.

However, despite all these challenges and difficulties that we all are facing in 2021, we have continued to work together, totally focused and committed to our mission.

Our short-term goal; to improve the quality of life for people with neurological injuries and diseases today.

Our long-term goal; to create treatments and cures for those disabling conditions.

Finally, we must always remember that it “takes a village.”

Thank you for your support of historic scientific achievements and of the amazing loyalty and spirituality of our Buoniconti Fund, The Miami Project, University of Miami and Jackson Health System leadership and our world class research teams at the Lois Pope LIFE Center and at the new outstanding Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center!