Funding Agency:

National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. U01 HD42678)

Total Project Period:

7/1/02 - 6/30/08

Total Project Award:

$1,116,000

Principal Investigator:

Ross Zafonte, DO (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)

Co-Investigators:

Sue Beers, PhD (Psychiatry); C. Edward Dixon, PhD, Tony Fabio, PhD, Amy Wagner, MD (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation)

Project Summary:

The University of Pittsburgh Brain Injury System (UPBI) has been established as a clinical care and research center to serve the entire population of Western Pennsylvania and portions of northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio. The UPBI spans from injury site to community and from the University’s fundamental research labs to the homes of local adults and children with TBI.

The UPBI is cornerstoned by a key group of investigators and consultants with a history of successful collaborative TBI clinical research. Specifically, the TBI research focus includes:

1. mechanisms of injury and recovery of dopamine systems,
2. gender related differences with injury, recovery, and response to therapies,
3. genetic influences on mechanisms of injury, recovery, and pharmacotherapeutic efficacy.

Through its participation in TBI clinical trials, the UPBI will help fulfill the NIH recognized objective to evaluate, through multiple centers using common protocols, the relationship between acute care practice and rehabilitation strategies to the long term functional outcome of TBI patients.