Researcher awarded grant to research TBI
A Dallas researcher was recently awarded a $2.7 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) under the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program. According to a press release published Jan. 11 – about the grant money – Dr. Daniel Krawczyk, deputy director of the Center for BrainHealth at UT Dallas was awarded the funds to fund […]
A Dallas researcher was recently awarded a $2.7 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) under the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program.
According to a press release published Jan. 11 – about the grant money – Dr. Daniel Krawczyk, deputy director of the Center for BrainHealth at UT Dallas was awarded the funds to fund research via a virtual technology platform to improve cognitive and functional deficits for veterans who have experienced traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
“The project is a follow-up effort from a Cognitive Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trial Award previously given by the DoD’s Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program,” the press release reads. “It was conducted under the strategic oversight of the DoD’s Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine and Military Operational Medicine Research programs.”
“Those who experience a traumatic brain injury often struggle with working memory, planning and cognitive control, which impacts real-life functionality,” said Krawczyk, associate professor of cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology and Debbie and Jim Francis Chair in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. “Utilizing an innovative virtual-reality platform, we hope to improve cognitive difficulties in individuals with chronic TBI by training strategies to accomplish complex real-life tasks.”
More than 100 veterans who have sustained traumatic brain injury will be included in the study, regardless of their service status. The research team will collect structural and functional brain imaging, and neuropsychological evaluations from participants before and after training.
“The team also will use Expedition, a virtual-reality platform developed by Virtual Heroes, a division of Applied Research Associates Inc., to establish training remotely over a four-week period,” the press release reads. “The real-life training scenarios include packing for a trip, planning and executing various modes of transportation, selecting and remembering locations as well as money and time management.”
