United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) recently announced the winners of its annual research grant program. The UCP’s mission to promote independence and inclusion for people with cerebral palsy and similar disabilities includes supporting innovative research. The theme for the 2025 Research Grant Program was “Change is Possible for CP.”
The 2025 Research Grant Winners
UCP began accepting applications for the grant awards in January and announced the winners in the fall. The 2025 competition, “Change is Possible for CP,” was held to help advance both clinical and translational research with the goal of bringing science together with care to effect real change for individuals and their families.
The 2025 call for applications yielded a record number from researchers in both the United States and Canada. Two winners emerged from the large number of applications, each receiving $20,000 to continue their work.
Christina Butera, as primary investigator, won a grant for a project called California Primary Care Provider Education of Early Identification and Intervention for Infants. The research team is working to train primary care providers in California to better detect developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy.
The team will use the grant money to use the pilot program from Los Angeles as a starting point for a statewide program. They hope it will provide greater access to evidence-based strategies and tools along with virtual training to diagnose developmental disabilities earlier, when treatments are more effective.
The second grant went to primary investigators Theresa Sukal Moulton and Colleen Peyton of Northwestern University and their team’s project called Translating Early Diagnosis into Practice: Clinical Validation of BabyOSCAR for Selective Motor Control Assessment in Infants with Probable Cerebral Palsy.
The project will continue work on BabyOSCAR, an assessment tool. The tool analyzes video recordings of infants making spontaneous movements. The team hopes that by applying the tool to more than 250 videos, it will become useful clinically. The goal is to diagnose cerebral palsy and other conditions earlier.
Both of the winning teams focus on projects and research that would help clinicians diagnose cerebral palsy earlier than ever before. This makes a real impact on individuals because earlier interventions are more effective. Many children are not diagnosed until they are toddlers or even older when treatments are less effective.
About UCP and the Research Grant Program
UCP was founded in 1949 to promote inclusion and independence through local affiliate groups. It serves more than 200,000 children and adults with disabilities every year, offering advocacy, resource referral, educational programs, home and community services, job coaching, and more.
The Research Grant Program is led by the UCP Research Council, which includes UCP affiliate leaders, medical professionals, individuals with disabilities, parents, and community leaders and advocates. Regardless of the year’s theme, the Program always emphasizes the translation of research findings into actual, real-world care for individuals.
This year’s winners of the grants are expected to make lasting and positive impacts on children and their families, helping young people with cerebral palsy a better chance to thrive.
