At its heart, Kennedy Krieger Institute’s new strategic plan solidifies the Institute’s longstanding dedication to serving individuals with disorders of the nervous system.
The plan’s four priorities—innovative patient care, special education and community services, access to care and services, and world-class research—bring what Kennedy Krieger offers to the world to a new level of helping others. The actions the Institute is already taking on these priorities have the potential to transform the lives of children, youth and adults on a scale never seen before.
Woven throughout these areas of focus are our commitments to health, equity, inclusion, diversity, civility, wellness, advocacy and supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities transitioning to adulthood. These commitments drive everything we do and contribute to what makes Kennedy Krieger unique among peer organizations.
Four years in the making, the plan is the result of dozens of meetings by focus groups, work groups (four) and task forces (16!) to determine how to turn our long-held dreams into reality.
We’re so excited to share with you all that we’ve accomplished in the first year and a half of the plan’s implementation.
Innovative Patient Care
Our patients are more complex than ever before. We’re planning a new, state-of-the-art inpatient hospital with individual rooms designed with advanced technologies to support patient recovery, and spaces and amenities developed with families in mind.
Special Education and Community Services
We recently launched our Integrated Early Learning Classrooms, a model inclusion program for replication across the country. Last summer, we opened a school in southern Maryland, increasing access to our services for children living in a more rural part of the state. We’re also expanding our transition programs for young adults with neurodivergence.
Access to Care and Services
We’re streamlining the process of scheduling and referring patients for our programs and clinics—because our services matter little to those who cannot take advantage of them. This past spring, we debuted our Nurse Navigator Program, designed specifically for families in need of extra care coordination. And we’re developing new service delivery models to ensure a variety of options for families seeking appointments at Kennedy Krieger.
World-Class Research
To take our research to the next level, we’re upgrading our laboratories to support the latest in clinical studies focused on better understanding how rehabilitation affects brain and spinal cord circuitry. We’re also developing a genetic sequencing database and biorepository, and making it easier to capture data on study participants from the comfort of their homes. These steps will allow us to better help people all around the world with nervous system disorders.
