Spinal Cord Injury presents a serious public health challenge. In 2004, The Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund was established by the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to expend funds from the trust to advance medical cure research services for people with spinal cord injuries. In 2015, the law was amended and the trust fund was renamed the Thomas P. Kennedy Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund. The goal of the Spinal Cord Injury Cure Research Program is to promote treatments to overcome the effects of chronic spinal cord injury. Managed by the State Treasurer, this fund derives revenue from a $50 surcharge to persons seeking to get their driver’s licenses reinstated after suspension for multiple moving violations. The fund is to be used “for the purpose of medical cure research services for spinal cord injured persons in such manner as the commissioner of Public Health shall direct."
