The number of faculty members serving on National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Veterans Affairs (VA) study sections continues to grow as more federally-funded investigators join USF Health – a testament to the growing strength of the only academic medical center on Florida’s West Coast.

Data from the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) show that, over the last three years, 130 USF Health faculty members and their USF collaborators in other colleges, such as engineering, participated in more than 580 meetings to review the scientific merit of grant and fellowship applications. (See list below.)

“This is fantastic news and speaks to our rapid evolution as a true research-based academic medical center,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “I applaud our faculty who commit their time and talent to the NIH competitive grant review process, which ultimately leads to biomedical and health breakthroughs. Doing so not only gives back to the scientific community, it offers insight into critically evaluating science that can improve your own grant writing, and provides opportunities to meet leading, funded investigators, both within and outside your field, for potential collaborations.”

The primary mission of the NIH Center for Scientific Review’s is to assure that grant proposals receive fair, independent, confidential, expert and timely peer reviews so that the NIH can fund the most promising research. The CSR oversees both NIH and VA study sections. Members selected by CSR for these diverse groups include academic and nonacademic scientists in various stages of their careers who are recognized for expertise and integrity in their respective fields.

Shortly after he joined USF Health in 2014, Dr. Lockwood prioritized recruiting NIH-funded researchers determined to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and new treatments.  Along with their own federally-funded research portfolios, many of these strategic hires brought a track record of service as members of NIH study section committees and panels.

From August 2017 to August 2020, the following faculty members served on a wide variety of CSR-designated study sections. Many have engaged in more than one scientific peer review group. Several have also chaired special emphasis panels in Neurobiology; Cardiovascular Sciences; the Blood-Brain Barrier, Neurovascular System and CNS Therapeutics; and Chronic Disease Disparities RFA Endocrine and GI, to name a few.

John Adams
Amy Christine Alman
Ross Andel
James E. Andrews
Wenlong Bai
Thomas Bernard
Paula Bickford
Manus R. Biswal
Laura Blair
Cesario Borlongan
Jerome Breslin
Blanca Camoretti-Mercado
Chuanhai Cao
Stephanie Carey
Charles Chalfant
Bala Chandran
Henian Chen
Yu Chen
Seong Ho Cho
Kyaien Conner
Javier Cuevas
Liwang Cui
Dominic D’Agostino
Getachew Dagne
Robert Deschenes
Julie Djeu
David Eddins
Jerri Edwards
Patricia Emmanuel
Edgar Espana
Robert Farese
Peter Alexander Forsyth
Robert Frisina
Svitlana Garbuzova-Davis
Brian Giunta
Amber Gum
Ganesh Halade
William E. Haley
Loree Heller
Richard Heller
Angela Hill
Ricardo Izurieta
Ming Ji
Huabei Jiang
Kimberly Johnson
David Kang
Kami Kim
Kevin Kip
Russell Kirby
Marian Kollarik
Narasaiah Kolliputi
Ashok Kumar
Hye-Seung Lee
Cecile A. Lengacher
Celia Lescano
Ji Li
Stephen B. Liggett
Bruce Lindsey
Jennifer Lister
Ruisheng Liu
Charles J. Lockwood
David Lominadze
Judette Louis
Ronald Magness
Matthias Majetschak
Stephanie Lynn Markefka
Oliver Massey
Thomas McDonald
Usha Menon
Shyam Mohapatra
Subhra Mohapatra
Maxim Mokin
Victor Molinari
Kathleen Moore
Viswam Nair
Kevin Nash
Sami Noujaim
Francis Ntumngia
Anthony Odibo
Siva Kumar Panguluri
Angela Parent
Christopher Passaglia
Anna Pyayt
Tara Randis
Steven Reader
Laura Redwine
Kyle Reed
Joel Richter
Timo Rieg
Khary Rigg
Henry Rodriguez
Lindsey Rodriguez
Meredeth Rowe
Vasyl Sava
Joshua Scallan
John Schinka
Julianne Serovich
Lindsey Shaw
Brent Small
Bernd Sokolowski
George Spirou
Marilyn Stern
Stanley M. Stevens
Paul Stiles
Saulius Sumanas
Xingmin Sun
Vijaykumar Sutariya
Laura Szalacha
Thomas Taylor-Clark
Michael Teng
Gopal Thinakaran
Srinivas Tipparaju
Hana Totary-Jain
Yicheng Tu
Monica Uddin
Thomas Unnasch
Vladimir Uversky
Carla Vandeweerd
Kendra Vehik
Constance Visovsky
Brendan Walker
Jolan Walter
Hsiao-Lan Wang
Lianchun Wang
Lynn Wecker
Edwin Weeber
Derek Wildman
Jerome Yankowitz
Jeffrey Yoder
Sarah Yuan
Janice Zgibor

Called the Women’s Health Mini Residency Program, the sessions will help prepare VA health care teams who treat our nation’s women Veterans.

USF Health CAMLS (Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation) was selected by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to be the dedicated facility to host sessions that train VA health care providers from across the country who treat women veterans.

In the five-year agreement with the VA, CAMLS is hosting VA health providers up to twice yearly for training focused on breast and pelvic health, when more than 300 physicians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals travel to Tampa to tap into the expertise offered at CAMLS, including team training facilities, standardized patients and simulation training.

Called the Women’s Health Mini Residency Program, the effort is meant to bolster the expertise of the VA’s primary care health teams for a range of medical needs specific to women veterans.

In a press release sent out earlier this week, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said: “More women Veterans are choosing VA for their health care than ever before. This mini residency program provides a unique learning opportunity for our clinical teams while addressing the extraordinary growth in VA services to women Veterans.”

Dr. Haru Okuda shares details about CAMLS and the Women’s Mini Residency Program with local reporters.

“We are proud that the VA has tapped into the expertise here at USF Health and at CAMLS for their efforts to enhance care for women veterans,” said Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP FSSH, executive director of USF Health CAMLS, executive director of USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice, and professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“For CAMLS, for USF Health, and for the greater Tampa Bay region, this is a significant achievement. We are now the national training site for incredibly important training for the coming five years, when health providers in VA medical facilities and clinics from across the country will train at USF Health CAMLS so they can return to their facilities to provide enhanced care for our increasing population of our nation’s women veterans.”

The number of women serving in the military is growing significantly, and a flagship training program is key in VA’s effort to have a workforce prepared to care for women Veterans, said Christine Kolehmainen, MD, director of Women’s Health Education, Women’s Health Services for the Office of Patient Care Services/Veteran Health Administration.

Dr. Christine Kolehmainen, director of VA Women’s Health Education, is interviewed about the Women’s Mini Residency Program hosted at CAMLS.

“Women veterans is the fastest growing veteran population in the VA and accounts for 30 percent of all newly enrolling Veterans,” Dr. Kolehmainen said. “Since 2001, women veterans seeking care within the VA has grown 200 percent from 160,000 to over 500,000 patients. The Women’s Health Mini Residency Program is part of VA’s continued effort to provide cutting-edge health care to the ever-increasing number of women Veterans seeking VA health care. The facilities at CAMLS, including their standardized patients, are invaluable to these trainings and are often cited on evaluations as the best part of the training.”

Central to the success of these training sessions are the standardized patients offered through CAMLS. Gynecologic teaching associates (GTAs) are specially trained standardized patients who helps facilitate medical scenarios during medical histories and examinations for these VA training sessions.

Barb Palmer, deputy field director for Women Health Services, describes the standardized patients used in the VA training.

“GTAs are such a critical component of this training,” said Barb Palmer, deputy field director for Women Health Services at the Veterans Affairs Central Office. “Their efforts contribute significantly to improving providers’ ability to perform or assist with a breast and pelvic exams and help them modify their approach in practice to completing pelvic exams for patients who have military sexual trauma.”

Central to the VA training sessions are standardized patients, offered through the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. In an early practice session at CAMLS, Marcia Weller (center), meets Heather Rogers (right), a nurse practitioner, and Liane Marshall, a nurse, both with the Hershel Woody Williams VA Medical Center in Huntington WV. Photo by Allison Long.

Other scenes from the media event at CAMLS:

Rhea Law, chair of the Board of Directors for the USF Health Professions Conferencing Corp, which oversees CAMLS.

Dr. Susan Perry, vice dean for Faculty and Community Affairs, USF College of Nursing, and a retired Colonel from the U.S. Air Force., with Josh Harris, associate director of sales for Hilton Tampa Downtown.

Dr. Lisa Hardman, deputy director of VA Women’s Health Education, and Elizabeth Jackson, a veteran who shared details of her health care experience with a provider trained through the Women’s Mini Residency Program.

Photos by Freddie Coleman, USF Health Office of Communications.

A Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s and VA Hospital/University of South Florida team created the antiviral therapy, which harnesses the power of stapled peptide and nanoparticle technologies to thwart the respiratory virus

Boston, MA, and Tampa, FL (April, 17, 2014) — New therapies are needed to prevent and treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a potentially lethal respiratory infection that can severely affect infants, young children and the elderly.

Despite a wide range of anti-RSV efforts, there are no vaccines or drugs on the market to effectively prevent or treat the infection.

Now researchers at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, and the James A. Haley VA Hospital and the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, FL, have developed novel double-stapled peptides that inhibit RSV in cells and in mice. The team also showed that this peptide’s capacity to block infection was significantly boosted when delivered to the lungs by miniscule, biodegradable particles known as nanoparticles.

The team’s findings are reported online today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, leads the VA/University of South Florida research team with expertise in nanoparticle technology. He holds a test tube of nanoparticle solution.

RSV employs a fusion protein with a helical structure to enable the virus to bind to and penetrate epithelial cells lining the nose and lungs.

The Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s/Harvard laboratory led by co-senior author Loren Walensky, MD, PhD, used their chemical strategy known as hydrocarbon stapling to make “double-stapled” RSV peptides. Stapling helps the peptides retain their natural helical shape and resist degradation by the body’s enzymes while disrupting the fusion process needed for RSV to infect host cells.

The VA/USF group led by co-senior author Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, tested these double-stapled peptides, alone and in combination with propriety nanoparticles, in mice to demonstrate significant inhibition of RSV infection.

“This is an exciting advance in the fight against respiratory syncytial virus infection,” said Dr. Mohapatra, director of the USF Nanomedicine Research Center and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s Division of Translational Medicine, and a research career scientist at James A. Haley VA Hospital.

“We found that double-stapled peptide interference targeting the virus fusion protein can be administered in the form of a nasal drop or spray.  The treatment suppressed viral entry and reproduction, including spread from nose to lungs, providing substantial protection from infection when administered several days before viral exposure.”

“Designing therapeutic peptides based on a virus’ very own fusion apparatus was previously exploited to block HIV-1 infection, but this class of drugs was severely limited by the pharmacologic liabilities of peptides in general, including loss of bioactive structure and rapid digestion in the body,” said Dr. Walensky, associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s and principal investigator in Dana-Farber’s Linde Program in Cancer Chemical Biology.

“Peptide stapling restores the natural helical shape, which also inhibits proteolysis, providing a new opportunity to take advantage of a well-validated mechanism of action to thwart viruses like RSV that otherwise lack drugs for preventing or treating infection.”

Loren Walensky, MD, PhD, leads the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s/Harvard laboratory with expertise in stapled peptide technology. The screen image shows the chemical structure of a stapled peptide, with the arrow pointing to the hydrocarbon staple (in yellow).

Dr. Mohapatra and his team developed nose drops containing the Walensky laboratory’s double-stapled peptides after combining them with TransGenex’s chitosan nanoparticles that stick to mucous-producing cells lining the lungs.

First, the researchers treated mice intranasally with stapled peptide nose drops, both before and during infection with RSV.  The treated mice showed significantly lower levels of virus in the nose and lungs, and less airway inflammation, compared to untreated mice.

Then, double-stapled peptides encapsulated in nanoparticles were delivered to the lungs via the trachea to test whether the combination could further increase the effectiveness of this experimental therapy.  The nanoparticle preparation markedly improved delivery of the peptides to the lungs, and the combination worked better and longer in preventing RSV pneumonia than the double-stapled peptide alone.

The researchers say to the best of their knowledge this preclinical study is the first to combine peptide stapling and nanoparticle technologies to maximize the delivery, persistence, and effectiveness of an antiviral therapy.

RSV is the most common virus causing lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most have had this infection by age 2, and it can be especially serious, even deadly, in high-risk groups, such as babies born prematurely and those whose immune systems do not work well. The virus hospitalizes thousands of infants each year for pneumonia or brochiolitis and has been associated with a significantly greater risk of developing asthma later in life.  The elderly are also at high risk of complications from RSV infection.

“This is a new way forward in the development of strategies to prevent RSV infection,” said Terrence Dermody, MD, the Dorothy Overall Wells professor of pediatrics and director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who was not involved with the research. “The authors are to be complimented on the clever design, interdisciplinary approach and extension from cell-culture experiments to animal studies. I am particularly excited about the possible application of this technology to other viruses.”

The study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Research Career Scientist and VA Merit Review Awards from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award.

Article citation:
Gregory H. Bird, Sandhya Boyapalle,Terianne Wong, Kwadwo Opoku-Nsiah, Raminder Bedi, W. Christian Crannell, Alisa F. Perry, Huy Nguyen, Vivianna Sampayo,  Ankita Devareddy, Subhra Mohapatra,  Shyam S. Mohapatra and Loren D. Walensky,  “Mucousal delivery of a double-stapled RSV peptide prevents nasopulmonary infection,”   Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2014;124(5): doi:10.1172/JCI71856.

About Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center brings together two internationally known research and teaching institutions that have provided comprehensive care for pediatric oncology and hematology patients since 1947.  The Harvard Medical School affiliates share a clinical staff that delivers inpatient care at Boston Children’s Hospital and outpatient care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s brings the results of its pioneering research and clinical trials to patients’ bedsides through five  clinical centers: the Blood Disorders Center, the Brain Tumor Center, the Hematologic Malignancies Center, the Solid Tumors Center, and the Stem Cell Transplant Center.

About USF Health

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Media contacts:
Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications, University of South Florida
(813) 974-3303 or abaier@health.usf.edu

Irene Sege, Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
617-919-7379 or irene.sege@childrens.harvard.edu

The research suggests Accelerated Resolution Therapy may be an option for veterans who do not respond optimally to conventional therapies endorsed by the Department of Defense and VA

Tampa, FL (Dec. 2, 2013) –Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, is a brief, safe, and effective treatment for combat-related symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans and U.S. service members, researchers at University of South Florida College of Nursing report in a new study. They found this newer treatment — a combination of evidence-based psychotherapies and use of eye movements — was shorter and more likely to be completed, than conventional therapies formally endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration.

The findings appear online today in advance of December’s print issue of Military Medicine, the international journal of AMSUS.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_bi0eW_WsU

Kevin Kip, PhD, FAHA, professor and executive director for the Research Center at the USF College of Nursing, led the team of scientists and clinicians who conducted the first randomized controlled trial of ART in a military population. The trial enrolled 57 service members and veterans, primarily from the Tampa Bay area.

“Based on this trial and an earlier study completed at the USF College of Nursing, we believe that accelerated resolution therapy may provide the quickest way to effectively and safely treat post-traumatic stress disorder,” Dr. Kip said. “Our goal is to obtain enough evidence and interest to warrant classifying ART as a potential first-line treatment for PTSD among both civilian and military personnel.”

“Dr. Kip’s work on this project has been phenomenal,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president of USF Health, and dean of the College of Nursing. “ART has been a cornerstone of RESTORE LIVES at USF Nursing as we continue developing research and education to advance the health care received by veterans, service members and their families.”

ART works in two phases to alleviate psychological trauma symptoms and related disorders such as depression and anxiety.

The patient first visualizes in his or her mind a prior traumatic experience which typically elicits uncomfortable physiological sensations like tightness of the chest, increased heart rate and sweating.  Then, through talk therapy and a series of rapid left-to-right eye movements in which the patient follows the clinician’s hand back and forth, the sensations are minimized. In the second phase, and with similar clinician input, the patient “replaces” the distressing images they have seen with positive ones in a way that the original distressing images can no longer be accessed. ART is delivered in two to five one-hour sessions, requires no homework, and no written or verbal recall of the traumatic experience.

Diego F. Hernandez, PsyD (left), a licensed clinical psychologist, demonstrates Accelerated Resolution Therapy, as veteran Brian Anderson follows his hand movements.

“Through this therapy, we’re able to quiet down and separate physiological symptoms that come with re-envisioning a traumatic experience,” Dr. Kip said. “We can also alter or replace the traumatic images and add positive material to them. We are changing how images are remembered in the brain.”

It worked well for Brian Anderson, a former Green Beret, 10-year Army veteran and director of the Pasco County Veteran Services and Stand Down program.  He had tried an endorsed first-line PTSD treatment known as prolonged exposure therapy, which was very lengthy and worked for a while, but then symptoms like hyper-vigilance returned.

“ART changed my life,” Anderson said. “This brief therapy took the bad memories that constantly resurfaced and put them in the proper order or long-term storage; it was almost like I was thinking about a time in history. As a veteran, I would much rather go through a therapy that works, in only a few sessions, than sit through intensive and grueling sessions that last as long as 16 weeks.”

In this study, researchers compared ART to a non-therapeutic PTSD treatment called attention control (AC) regimen. Clinicians treated half of the 57 study participants (29) with ART, and the other half (28) received AC, which consisted of either physical fitness assessment and planning or career assessment and planning. After initial treatment, both groups received a three-month follow-up assessment.

“Before and after these interventions, we compared the response analyzing reductions in PTSD symptoms, depression and anxiety, and the results were very impressive,” Dr. Kip said. “In an average of less than four ART sessions, participants had very substantially reduced symptoms of PTSD, while those who received AC did not.”

After the AC regimen, all veterans had the opportunity to receive ART, and in the full study, 94 percent completed treatment. Favorable results persisted at three months.

Kevin Kip, PhD, executive director for the Research Center at the University of South Florida College of Nursing, led the team of scientists and clinicians who conducted the first randomized controlled trial of ART in a military population.

The USF College of Nursing recently began its fourth and largest ART study. Researchers will recruit 200 veterans and service members suffering from PTSD, including a high representation of those who were sexually abused or previously treated with other PTSD therapies. They will also study the cost-effectiveness of ART, and further examine how and why the therapy works.

PTSD is a prevalent, disabling disorder that can emerge following a life-threatening event or traumatic experience. Those experiences create chronic symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, sleep disturbances, mood swings, and loss of interest in life. According to PTSD Foundation of America, one in three troops returning from combat suffers PTSD symptoms, although less than 40 percent seek help. The organization also reports that at least five active duty military members attempt suicide every day.

“Accelerated resolution therapy is giving hope to many veterans who felt like they had no hope,” said Lt. Col. (Ret.) Lawrence A. Braue, EdD, director of the USF Office of Veterans Services. “I look forward to the day when this treatment is widely available across the country. USF College of Nursing faculty and staff genuinely care about our veterans, and that means the world to any veteran.”

For more information about ART or current studies visit USF College of Nursing’s RESTORE LIVES.

Article citation:
“Randomized Controlled Trial of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) for Symptoms of Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” by Kip, Kevin E.; Rosenzweig, Laney; Hernandez, Diego F.; Shuman, Amy; Sullivan, Kelly L.; Long, Christopher J.; Taylor, James; McGhee, Stephen; Girling, Sue Ann; Wittenberg, Trudy; Sahebzamani, Frances M.; Lengacher, Cecile A.; Kadel, Rajendra; and Diamond, David M; Military Medicine, Vol. 178, No. 12, December 2013, pp. 1298-1309(12)

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 43rd  in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu.

-RESTORE LIVES at USF NURSING-

Through ‘RESTORE LIVES AT USF: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families’, USF College of Nursing faculty develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of the military, veterans and their families. The ART study is an example of type of innovative research that the USF College of Nursing is developing to improve the health of our honored service members and veterans.

Video and photos by Andy Faza, USF College of Nursing Communications 

Media Contact:
Vjollca “V” Hysenlika, College of Nursing Communications
(813)974-2017 or vhysenli@health.usf.edu

The Department of Defense grant may lead to better treatments, readjustment skills for veterans

Tampa, FL (Jan. 31, 2012) – The University of South Florida has received a $1.57 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to conduct translational research on traumatic brain injury and other battlefield related injuries and diseases. The studies, many in collaboration with James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, are intended to improve the quality of life for military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is known as the signature injury of soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. Blast forces sustained in combat often cause damage to parts of the brain critical to high-level functions influencing memory, attention, decision-making and motor skills. Many veterans developing symptoms after TBI also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

U.S. soldiers conduct combat patrol in Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Department of Defense.

“Working with the VA, the Department of Defense and private research entities, we will develop novel studies – everything from drug discovery and preclinical work to clinical, social and behavioral trials,” said principal investigator Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, USF senior associate vice president for research and innovation and director of the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair. “Our multidisciplinary work will provide critical knowledge about TBI and its complications that could lead to more effective diagnosis and treatments for soldiers and veterans, as well as skills to improve their physical and psychological adjustment into civilian life.”

“This new federal award is a tremendous boost to USF’s efforts to build a research infrastructure to support our veterans reintegration strategy,” said Karen Holbrook, PhD, USF senior vice president for research, innovation and global affairs.

The two-year, DOD-funded grant joins faculty from across colleges and disciplines. Among USF faculty members leading studies are Cesar Borlongan, PhD; Juan Sanchez-Ramos, MD, PhD, and Michael Schoenberg, PhD; all from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; Theresa Chisolm, PhD, William Kearns, PhD, and Larry Schonfeld, PhD, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences; David Diamond, PhD, College of Arts and Sciences; William S. Quillen, PT, DPT, PhD, and Larry Mengelkoch, PhD; School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and Larry Braue, USF Office of Veterans Services.

Dr. Paul Sanberg, USF senior associate vice president for research and innovation, is overseeing the DOD-funded projects.

The grant involves four major projects:

• Researchers will assess in animal models how granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), a growth factor that mobilizes the body’s own stem cells, may help treat traumatic brain injury.

• A clinical trial will test whether GCSF reduces neurological damage and improves recovery of memory, decision-making and other cognitive functions in soldiers and veterans with TBI, even when administered a month or two after the initial injury. Patients will be recruited from the polytrauma rehabilitation and blast injury programs at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

• In an attempt to identify better diagnostic measures for mild TBI, a frequently underdiagnosed condition, a study will compare the balance, gait, hearing and vestibular functions of otherwise healthy USF student veterans with and without self-reported TBI to those of non-veteran students. Evaluations will be conducted at the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences Human Functional Performance Laboratory.

• Using advanced technology researchers will monitor changes in patterns of everyday movement and the cognitive function of TBI patients undergoing smart house-based rehabilitation at the Tampa VA hospital’s Polytrauma Transitional Rehabilitation Program. The study will evaluate whether scientific analysis of movements, tracked by devices like radiofrequency identification and global positioning systems, can help assess therapeutic improvement. A second arm of the study will investigate whether variability in walking patterns is greater for USF student veterans reporting mild TBI than for those without this diagnosis.

The new DOD award adds momentum to USF’s plans to work with the VA and DOD to build a first-of-its kind Center for Rehabilitation, Science, Engineering and Medicine, an interdisciplinary research, education and treatment facility. Over the last three years, the university’s Veterans Reintegration Strategy program has joined researchers across colleges and disciplines to work on studies in areas including TBI, PTSD, robotics and prosthetics, gait and balance, and aging-related disorders.

“This award reflects USF’s collaborative efforts to leverage our research and academic expertise to enhance the quality of life of our men and women in uniform, and their families, who have so selflessly served this country,” said Lt. Gen. Martin Steele (USMC retired), executive director of USF Military Partnerships. “It builds, not only upon interdisciplinary research within the university, but also strengthens our longstanding ties with Tampa Bay’s military community through two major VA hospitals, MacDill Air Force Base, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.”

Earlier this month at a news conference announcing an initiative of the country’s top medical schools, including the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, to ensure care for veterans and their families, First Lady Michelle Obama recognized USF as an example of universities stepping up to meet veterans’ unique health care needs.

– USF –

The University of South Florida is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research universities, a distinction attained by only 2.2 percent of all universities. It is ranked 44th in total research expenditures and 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation. The USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion, an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion, and serves 47,000 students in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland.