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Charleston VA receives six research grants
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
The research program at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center has received approval and funding for six VA Biomedical Laboratory/Clinical Science Research and Development Merit Review grants, out of a total of 14 submissions.
“This is an exceptional achievement in a very competitive process,” said Tonya Lobbestael, public affairs officer for the RHJ-VA.
“Typically we receive three grants, and that’s considered very good,” said John Barilich, director of the RHJ-VA. “Getting six is absolutely outstanding. And that describes the research program here. They’re doing some incredible work in research, and the awarding of these grants is evidence of that.”
The research program, according to M. Rita Young, associate chief of staff for VA Research and Development, is dedicated to finding new, better and more cost-effective methods of providing health care to veterans.
The program includes investigations in medical research, health services research and research clinical trials.
The program is a variety of collaborative research programs that are composed of investigators whose studies are supported through VA grants as well as funding through the National Institutes of Health, private industry and other federal and state agencies.
Of the 70 active investigators, many are affiliated with MUSC. Young said MUSC provides money for certain salaries for some of the investigators and for travel, as well as a grants coordinator and research compliance officer.
In the VA-MUSC collaboration, the VA brings to the table some of the grant funding and investigators, plus the Charleston Research Institute, a nonprofit established by the VA 20 years ago that is dedicated to supporting VA research.
The program operates on an annual budget of approximately $18.5 million, of which $3.26 million is from VA funding, $12 million comes from NIH grants and the remainder is provided by other grants and sources.
Lobbestael noted that this year’s unusually high rate of success with grants is attributed to several factors.
“Computerizing almost all operations within the VA Research Office, continual education on the VA’s research and development policies and regulations allowing for increased administrative support in the preparation of submissions, and the practice of conducting formal local scientific reviews of all VA merits,” Lobbestael said were the factors contributing to the achievement of the awards.
“The bottom line is Charleston’s research funding rate within the Biomedical Laboratory/Clinical Science Research and Development programs is regularly exceeding the national average, proving the value of research to the VA and the high caliber of research investigators here at Charleston’s VA Medical Center,” said Lobbestael.
The following is the list of investigators who received funding, along the funded project, the number of years of the grant and the total funding:
Yan Huang; Diabetes and the Stability of Atherosclerotic Plaques; 3 years, $787,600.
Richard Klein; Interactions of Lipoproteins and Cells in Diabetes Mellitus; 4 years, $1,013,900.
Mark Kindy; Therapeutic Intervention in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury; 4 years, $500,000.
Dr. Maria Virella-Lopez; Lipoprotein Metabolism and Cell-Lipoprotein Interactions in Diabetes Mellitus; 4 years, $538,900.
Dr. William Tyor; Novel Treatments for HIV Encephalitis in Mice; 4 years, $521,200.
Rita Young; Defining and Interrupting the Pathways That Lead to HNSCC Invasiveness; 4 years, $507,000.
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