$2.3 Million award supports long-term research on living with traumatic brain injury

Researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center have been awarded $2.26 million over five years to continue to support traumatic brain injury (TBI) research as a TBI Model Systems Center. A major cause of death and disability, it’s estimated that 2.8 million Americans receive medical care each year for traumatic brain injuries as the result of falls, motor vehicle crashes, violence, athletics and military action.

The Ohio Regional TBI Model System, located in Ohio State’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was first funded in 1997 and is the longest continuously funded TBI Model System in the country. Ohio State has been a national hub for TBI research for the past 25 years. For this longitudinal study, consenting TBI patients are periodically contacted to gauge progress of their continuing recovery. To date, Ohio State has recruited more than 1,400 patients into a national dataset that follows people from their injury throughout their lifespan.

Jennifer Bogner, PhD, who holds the Bert C. Wiley endowed chair in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Ohio State College of Medicine, also serves as principal investigator on this study. Dr. Bogner says the long-term funding for the TBI Model System allows them to continue improving the lives of people who experience traumatic brain injury, along with their families and communities.

“Through the creation and dissemination of new knowledge, we’re changing the course, treatment and outcomes relating to patients’ conditions,” Dr. Bogner says. “Our discoveries have reshaped brain injury rehabilitation.”

Read more about how the Ohio Regional TBI Model System center is one of 16 federally funded such centers that are part of a national network.