Paralysis reshapes lives.
We're reshaping the future.
Every year, thousands of people experience a spinal cord injury that permanently alters how they move, work, connect, and live.
For individuals and families, the impact is immediate and lifelong. Yet for decades, paralysis has been treated as irreversible.
We refuse to accept that.
Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation exists for one reason:
To find a treatment for paralysis, and to improve life for people living with spinal cord injury until that day comes.
Our Vision
A world without paralysis
Our vision is bold, simple, and uncompromising:
A future where spinal cord injuries no longer mean a lifetime of paralysis.
We believe the spinal cord can be repaired.
We believe function can be restored.
We believe progress happens faster when the world’s best minds work together toward a single goal.
Our Approach
We focus relentlessly on outcomes: our community drives our work and holds us accountable. And, we’re part of this community that we serve.
This is personal, for our founder Perry Cross, for our team, and for every family navigating life with spinal cord injury.
Grounded in lived experience, we push science forward with one clear purpose. Treatment that changes lives.
When our community calls for progress, we step forward together.
When research shows genuine promise, we help carry it further.
When the pathway to clinical trials opens, we commit to moving it ahead.
We invest in breakthroughs that restore function, increase independence, and create real possibility.
Every project, every partnership, and every dollar raised must lead somewhere meaningful.
Back to the person living with paralysis.
Our work is guided by three pillars
Pioneering Discovery
We identify and invest in the most promising frontiers in spinal cord injury research. Focusing on repair, regeneration, and functional recovery.
This means supporting bold research with the potential to shift what’s possible, not just incremental progress.
Strategic Collaboration
Breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation. We bring together the best spinal cord injury researchers, clinicians, and institutions in the world.
In doing so we create integrated teams that accelerate discovery and move research from the lab to human trials faster.
Immediate Impact
While we pursue a treatment for paralysis, we remain deeply committed to people living with spinal cord injury today.
We fund research that improves rehabilitation, independence, and quality of life—because progress matters now, not just in the future.
Proof of progress
$42 million+ raised for spinal cord injury research
Since 2010, we have helped to secure over $42 million to fund groundbreaking Australian spinal injury research, driving the next generation of spinal cord injury treatments.
A global clinical milestone
In 2025, we launched a world-first, fully funded cell transplantation and rehabilitation human clinical trial for 30 participants living with paralysis.
Advancing Rehabilitation Science
Our Foundation has successfully concluded two major clinical trials investigating the impact and importance of intensive rehabilitation on spinal cord injury recovery. While these results are currently awaiting formal publication, the findings have already established the core protocol for our active human clinical trial involving combined cell transplantation and rehabilitation.
Learn more about our research
Meet the team
Behind every breakthrough is a team of dedicated researchers, clinicians, and collaborators working toward the same goal.
Current Projects
Explore the projects driving progress right now made possible with your generous support.
Tour the lab
Tour our laboratory, meet the scientists, and see how your support fuels real progress toward a world without paralysis.
