VCOM 2017 Annual Report

inspired by innovation

Extramurally Funded Research

VIRGINIA P. Gunnar Brolinson, DO

professor for family and sports medicine, are involved in the large scale, multi-site NCAA-DOD grant challenge program: • National Collegiate Athletic Association – Department of Defense: Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium . Dr. Brolinson is serving as the VCOM principal investigator and Dr. Rogers is an investigator on this three-year project. This work is in collaboration with Virginia Tech, University of Michigan, and many other universities across the country. The project involves cutting-edge research that incorporates head impact sensor technologies, advanced neuroimaging, biological markers, and detailed clinical studies to examine the acute effects and early pattern of recovery from sport-related concussion. The goal of this initiative is to enhance the safety of student-athletes and service members. Blaise Costa, MPharm, PhD Dr. Costa is an assistant professor for pharmacology at VCOM–Virginia. He is also a member of the Virginia Tech Drug Discovery Group to promote progress in identifying novel compounds to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Costa’s active research includes an extramural funding from the AHA: • American Heart Association: The role of tri-heteromeric NMDA receptors in stroke and its mitigation . Dr. Costa is the principal investigator of this research, with an award of over $300,000. The overall outcome of this study will generate a novel class of drug-like compounds that are not currently (continued)

Dr. Brolinson is the vice provost for research, professor for family and sports medicine, and discipline chair for sports medicine at VCOM–Virginia, and head team physician for Virginia Tech. His research interests include exercise and immune function, exercise and bone mineral density, mild traumatic brain injury in sports, impact biomechanics, human factors in auto safety, sports performance and manipulation, and other health and disease prevention related topics. Dr. Brolinson is currently principal investigator or co-investigator on the following federally funded grants: • National Institutes of Health: Biomechanical basis of pediatric mTBI due to sports related concussion; in collaboration with Virginia Tech, total award $3.3 million. • National Science Foundation: Determining feasibility and scalability of a life/medical science hybrid-core based platform . Dr. Harold “Skip” Garner is the co-principal investigator, and Virginia Tech is a collaborative partner. • National Science Foundation: MRI: Acquisition of a force-measuring treadmill for biomedical

experimentation and assistive device development ; in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics group.

P. Gunnar Brolinson, DO, and Mark Rogers, DO, CAQSM Dr. Brolinson and Mark Rogers, DO, CAQSM, assistant

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