Scientists at the University of Birmingham awarded almost £200,000 by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs to better understand traumatic brain injury in veterans.
The pilot study will use biomarkers in blood and saliva, along with eye imaging, mental health status and patient reported outcomes from veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injury to develop an algorithm to predict prognosis and treatment.
The study is one of 22 cutting-edge projects that recently received funding from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs’ (OVA) Health Innovation Fund, delivered in collaboration with the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), to help the physical and mental health of veterans. Each project also has potential to contribute to mainstream and improved treatments by the NHS in the future.
The study will compare head injury in a group of civilians and a group of veterans. We will follow patients up for a year after enrolment with the aim of developing an algorithm to predict those that may go onto to develop mental health problems and other quality of life consequences. Better understanding will ultimately allow us to put better support in place.
The multidisciplinary Centre for Trauma Sciences Research links preclinical and clinical researchers working across the University of Birmingham campus on wide ranging translational trauma science projects. The project will be delivered in collaboration with colleagues in the Institute of Applied Health, School of Psychology, the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Bravo Victor and University Hospitals Birmingham.
Professor of Neuroscience
Staff profile for Professor Zubair Ahmed, Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medicine and Health.
Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health
Staff profile for Professor Rachel Upthegrove, Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham.
Research Fellow
Staff profile for Christel McMullan, a Qualitative Research Fellow in the Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham.
