Research

Auburn Research Recognition Day 2025

ebailey — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:10:41 +0000

Auburn Research Recognition Day 2025 ebailey Wed, 11/20/2024 - 09:10

Auburn Research Recognition Day 2025

Tags: Research

Location: VCOM-Auburn, 910 South Donahue Drive, Auburn, AL 36832

Research Day is a significant event for SWAG��Ƶthat supports the mission of the College to provide medical education and promote research that prepares globally-minded, community-focused physicians to improve human health.

Who should attend?

Student doctors, student pharmacists, student nurses, and other health professions students; physicians, physician assistants, biomedical researchers, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, public health professionals, medical residents, and others interested in current medical research.

Agenda

TBA; Lunch will be provided for attendees.

Program

A research day program book will be available at the event.

Speakers

Scott Powers, PhD
UAA Endowed Professor, Distinguished Professor
Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology
College of Health & Human Performance
University of Florida

Gaurav Choudhary, MD
Ruth and Paul Levinger Professor of Cardiology
Director of Cardiovascular Research at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute
Associate Chief of Staff (Research) at the Providence VA Medical Center

How do I participate?

Attendees are invited to share their research in poster format. Poster abstracts must be accepted for posters to be displayed at the event. The Via Research Recognition Day features an optional student poster competition in the following categories: Biomedical Research, Clinical Research, Clinical Case Reports, Educational Research and Simulation Research.

Guidelines for Writing Poster Abstracts (DOC)

Abstract Submission Form (DOC)

Abstracts must be submitted electronically using the Abstract Submission Form linked above by Friday, December 6th, 2024, at 5 PM CST.

Please note: In the interest of professionalism and fairness, no extensions for abstract submission will be granted.

For questions about abstract submissions or participation in the poster competition, please email researchday-auburn@vcom.edu.

When an abstract is accepted, the submitting author will receive further instructions for poster submission via email by Friday, December 13th, 2024. Posters will be due by January 17th, 2025, at 5 PM CST.

SWAG��Ƶprovides free poster printing for any meeting attendee with an accepted abstract. Details will be sent to submitting authors with the abstract acceptance email.

Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of the SWAG��ƵMedical Education Department to ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all its educational programs. All participating faculty are expected to disclose to the participants any real or apparent conflict of interest related to the content of their presentations.

Campus: Auburn

When: February 7, 2025 8:00am to 3:00pm CST

SWAG��ƵHosts 10th Annual Research Retreat

ebailey — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:45:59 +0000

SWAG��ƵHosts 10th Annual Research Retreat ebailey Tue, 11/19/2024 - 08:45

SWAG��ƵHosts 10th Annual Research Retreat

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Ten years ago, when Gunnar Brolinson, DO, launched VCOM’s first-ever research retreat, he didn’t know that the retreat would continue to grow—just as the College itself has. Yet, with the help of many hands across the last decade, the College recently hosted its 10th retreat, welcoming researchers from all four campuses, plus partners including government agencies, universities, and more.

In the beginning, Dr. Brolinson says he was just trying to get folks together to “foster research partnerships amongst our schools and amongst our partners.” He continues: “The kind of grants that are successful on the national level are multidisciplinary and multi-institutional. Every year, we have several new collaborations that come out of people sitting down at the same table and chatting about their research ideas.”

This year’s retreat had more than 120 participants from all four SWAG��Ƶcampuses and 12 partner organizations, including the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); Pfizer; and Hughston Clinic in Columbus, Georgia; among others. The agenda featured a number of workshops and sessions with CME opportunities as well as talks on projects happening across the four campuses.

Matt Gevaert, PhD, VCOM’s new chief innovation officer spoke about the importance of innovating new treatments for cancer, but also the challenges of developing those treatments in terms of cost of high failure rates. Other sessions included how a mobile app is expanding the reach of mental health education, novel treatments for pain, integrating radiomics and musculoskeletal sonography, short “MedX” talks on a variety of topics, and much more. In addition, there was ample time for social interaction and networking, helping to build the strong relationships that are so necessary to successful research collaborations.

Research at VCOM

VCOM’s research department offers a variety of services, including help to identify funding sources and to match faculty and student research ideas to appropriate funding sources. The department also helps develop and manage large-scale, cross-campus project teams; assists with development and content editing; offers statistical consulting; and helps with technology transfer and licensing of intellectual property. The department not only supports faculty, but also students, residents and hospital partners.

VCOM’s commitment—both philosophically and financially—to research has borne a lot of fruit over the years. In fiscal year 2024, there were 61 extramural proposals submitted by 36 different faculty members. The College’s extramural award success rate of 27% is a notable achievement. The national success rate for new grant proposals to the NIH, for example, is just over 21%. SWAG��Ƶfaculty currently have 15 proposals in the review stage at various organizations, with more than $9 million in potential funding.

Notable recent awards include:

Nearly $4 million for a syndromic surveillance project with the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland
Just over $2 million from the NIH to study the effect of cranial OMM on neuroinflammation
A CATCH grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics to engage caregivers and children in a fun learning experience about the topic of anxiety
A USDA Emergency Rural Health Care Grant to enable SWAG��Ƶto deploy its mobile medical unit in weeklong medical mission experiences in rural Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties in South Carolina.

Many of the research projects that receive extramural funding start off as intramural projects. SWAG��Ƶcurrently has 25 internally funded research projects and has a dedicated budget of $1.2 million annually to support such research. Seventy-two percent of these projects feature collaborators from partner institutions, and about 20% feature new investigators.

Research

Virginia

By Amy Ostroth -

SWAG��ƵResearch Collaboration with Virginia Tech Earns NIH Funding

ebailey — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:19:49 +0000

SWAG��ƵResearch Collaboration with Virginia Tech Earns NIH Funding ebailey Mon, 11/18/2024 - 14:19

SWAG��ƵResearch Collaboration with Virginia Tech Earns NIH Funding

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Gunnar Brolinson, DO, VCOM’s vice president for research, is the principal investigator on a research project that has recently been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant is $2.17 million over five years and the project is a collaboration with Pamela VandeVord, PhD, who heads up the Traumatic Nerve Technologies (TNT) Lab and Jennifer Munson, PhD, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics (BEAM) at Virginia Tech. As a clinician, Dr. Brolinson is particularly interested in how diseases and conditions affect the human brain and how osteopathic techniques can provide treatments.

About a decade ago, Dr. Brolinson collaborated with Blaise Costa, MPharm, PhD, and Hope Tobey, DO, to develop a model to study the impact of cranial osteopathic manipulative medicine (cOMM) on Alzheimer’s on rats. They discovered that the rats that received cOMM had improved mood, memory and lower anxiety. The internally funded pilot study was so successful that it won a grant from the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). It also got Dr. Brolinson thinking if the cOMM techniques would have the same positive impact on brains that had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Like all osteopathic physicians, Dr. Brolinson has seen firsthand the positive result of OMM to serve as a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical treatment for a wide variety of conditions. Cranial OMM has been performed for years, but Dr. Brolinson says that the neurobiological mechanisms of why it works aren’t well understood. Studying those mechanisms could go a long way toward helping people suffering from TBI because it could lead to new treatments.

Traumatic brain injury is a huge problem, not just in this country, but worldwide. And there is no real treatment for it. There isn’t medication for concussion, just rest and gradual resumption of activity. A novel, non-invasive, gentle OMM technique is potentially revolutionary.

Gunnar Brolinson, DO , Vice President for Research

Dr. Brolinson reached out to Pam VandeVord, who studies the complex mechanisms of injury to the brain. Together, they applied for and received intramural funding from SWAG��Ƶand the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), an investment institute that advances Virginia Tech research by connecting researchers with resources that will help them maximize the scope and impact of their work. The intramural funding allowed the team to develop the data that would be needed to get additional funding from other organizations—like the NIH. Their team worked on this preclinical TBI research for about five years and submitted grant proposals to the NIH and other funding agencies a handful of times before being successful.

Cranial OMM has the potential to have a positive impact on TBI patients for which headaches are the most common symptom. The NIH award will help us foster research collaborations between engineers and osteopathic clinicians to develop innovative strategies that promote recovery.

Pamela VandeVord, PhD , Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, Harrison Professor

The NIH grant is particularly noteworthy because it supports osteopathic research, which typically gets less funding than other types of medical research. One reason for that may be that agencies like the NIH have fewer osteopathic physicians on their boards and committees. As a result, there may not always be enough expertise to understand the value of osteopathic techniques when the committees are reviewing research submissions. “It is really important for osteopathic clinicians and scientists to become more involved in the fabric of the NIH,” Dr. Brolinson observes. “When they’re reviewing a grant to study osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), for example, and there is an osteopathic physician or scientist on the review panel, there’s an expert who understands what OMT is.”

Another reason that osteopathic research may get less funding is that osteopathic medical schools have typically focused on educating great clinicians, rather than great researchers. However, with the advent of combined ACGME residencies into a single pathway, osteopathic medical schools like SWAG��Ƶare giving their students more opportunities to participate in high-level research. “Program directors are looking for students who have done research in their medical school programs,” Dr. Brolinson says. “It helps to differentiate students, particularly since medical education is going increasingly toward pass-fail. Research allows osteopathic students to be as competitive as students from allopathic institutions that have long histories of high-value research.”

As a result, this funding from the NIH is important—not just for VCOM, but for the osteopathic profession. “NIH is widely regarded at the top tier of funding in research, so you can’t underestimate the impact of getting NIH funding has on the impact of your research profile,” Dr. Brolinson says. He’s also grateful for the teamwork that is a key part of this kind of research. “I don’t do this by myself. We have a big team working on this project. Put together great teams of collaborators and great things happen.”

SWAG��ƵPresident Dixie-Tooke Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, and its board chairman John Rocovich, Jr., JD, LLM, have been incredibly supportive of research at VCOM. The College provides more than $1.3 million annually to researchers, and their proposals are reviewed in a competitive process to ensure that the College is engaged in high-value research. This kind of seed funding allows researchers to gather data, which is critical to successfully receiving funding from agencies like the NIH, the American Osteopathic Association, the United States Department of Defense, and the Centers for Disease Control. SWAG��Ƶhas several funding programs across its four campuses, many of which are collaborative with other universities and medical partners.

Research

Virginia

By Amy Ostroth -

Louisiana Research Day 2025

ebailey — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:25:47 +0000

Louisiana Research Day 2025 ebailey Thu, 10/24/2024 - 14:25

Louisiana Research Day 2025

Tags: Research

Location: VCOM-Louisiana, 4408 Bon Aire Dr, Monroe, LA 71203

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) – Louisiana Campus will hold its Annual Via Research Recognition Day on Friday, February 28, 2025. Research Day is a significant event for SWAG��Ƶand supports the mission of the College to provide medical education and research that prepares globally-minded, community-focused physicians and improves the health of those most in need.

Registration

Registration is FREE and is required for all participants, including students and poster presenters. Registration is now open and the deadline to register is Monday, January 13, 2025.

With registration for this event, you get:

Program materials
A meal will be provided during the event
Full access to all event activities

For any problems with registration, please email researchday-lc@ulm.vcom.edu

Agenda

TBA

Program

Research day program book will be available one week prior to the event.

Speaker

James Weger-Lucarelli, PhD
Assistant Professor - Viral Genetics and Host Interactions
VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine
Virginia Tech

How do I participate?

Guidelines for Writing Research Abstracts for Posters (DOC)

Abstract Submission Form

Abstracts must be submitted electronically using the Abstract Submission Form at the link above. The deadline for abstract submission is Monday, January 13, 2025 at 5 PM.

Please note: In the interest of professionalism and fairness, no extensions for abstract submission will be granted.

For questions about abstract submissions or participation in the poster competition, please email the Research Day Committee at researchday-lc@ulm.vcom.edu.

When an abstract is accepted, the submitting author will receive further instructions on poster submission via email.

SWAG��Ƶprovides free poster printing for any meeting attendee with an accepted abstract. Details will be sent to submitting authors with the abstract acceptance email.

Poster Template (PPT) (Please save poster file name as: lastname,firstname-VCOM-RD25)

Poster Submissions are due by Friday, February 7th, 2025 at 5 PM.

What will this conference offer?

The Via Research Recognition Day is a forum for health professionals and scientists at academic institutions, teaching hospitals and practice sites to present or benefit from new research innovations and programs intended to improve the health of all humans. By attending the oral presentations and poster sessions, participants will have the opportunity to learn cutting edge information in the physiological bases of osteopathic manipulative therapy efficacy, new trends in physician-based research networks, and how to develop innovative research projects with high impact for human health. By attending the poster session, participants will also learn about the biomedical, clinical and educational research activities at SWAG��Ƶand its partner institutions and will have an opportunity to identify new collaborative research opportunities.

Who should attend?

Medical and pharmacology students, physicians, physician assistants, biomedical researchers, nurse practitioners, public health professionals, medical residents, and other health profession students and others interested in primary care issues and research.

Disclosure Statement

Campus: Louisiana

When: February 28, 2025 7:45am to 12:30pm CST

Virginia Research Day 2025

ebailey — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:51:13 +0000

Virginia Research Day 2025 ebailey Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:51

Virginia Research Day 2025

Tags: Research

Research Day Virginia: February 14, 2025

VCOM-Virginia Campus Building 2 (SWAG��Ƶ2), 2280 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060
Location: SWAG��Ƶ2

Registration

Registration is FREE, but required. Registration opens on October 7, 2024, and the deadline to register is Friday, January 17, 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: OMSII students do NOT need to register using the form. You are already included in this event.

With registration for this event, attendees receive:

Program materials
Full access to all event activities
Boxed lunch during the event

Register Now

For any problems with registration, please email Alyson Farrar or Dr. Jim Mahaney at ResearchDay@vt.vcom.edu.

Agenda

TBA

Program

Available the week prior to the event

How do I participate?

Attendees are invited to share their research in poster format. Poster abstracts must be accepted for the event for posters to be displayed. The Via Research Recognition Day features an optional poster competition with distinct categories: Research by a medical resident, biomedical research by a faculty member, biomedical research by a student, clinical research by a faculty member, clinical research by a student, educational research by a faculty member and educational research by a student. For the competition, students are defined broadly as any student in training, including undergraduate, graduate, medical and post-doctoral students. The resident research category is reserved for physicians currently in residency, internship and/or fellowship training.

Abstracts must be submitted electronically to ResearchDay@vt.vcom.edu using the completed Abstract Submission Form linked below. The final deadline for abstract submission is Friday, November 8, 2024, by 5 pm.

Abstract Form (DOC)

Please note due to limitations in space, no extensions for abstract submission will be granted.

When an abstract is accepted, the submitting author will receive further instructions on poster submission via email. Abstract acceptance will be communicated by Friday, November 22, 2024.

SWAG��Ƶprovides free poster printing for any meeting attendee with an accepted abstract. Details will be sent to the submitting authors with the abstract acceptance email.

Free SWAG��ƵPoster Printing Deadline (if in-person conference) is January 24, 2025, at 5 p.m.

For questions about abstract submissions or participation in the poster competition, please email Alyson Farrar or Dr. Jim Mahaney at ResearchDay@vcom.vt.edu.

What will this conference offer?

The Via Research Recognition Day is a forum for health professionals and scientists at academic institutions, teaching hospitals and practice sites to present or benefit from new research innovations and programs intended to improve the health of all humans. By attending the sessions with the speakers, participants will have the opportunity to learn cutting edge information in the physiological bases of osteopathic manipulative therapy efficacy, new trends in physician-based research networks, and how to develop innovative research projects with high impact for human health. By attending the poster session, participants will also learn about the biomedical, clinical and educational research activities at SWAG��Ƶand its partner institutions and will have ample opportunity to identify new collaborative research opportunities.

Who should attend?

Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, public health professionals, medical residents, health professions students and others interested in primary care issues and research.

Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of the SWAG��ƵMedical Education Department to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all its educational programs. All participating faculty are expected to disclose to the participants any real or apparent conflict of interest related to the content of their presentations.

Campus: Virginia

When: February 14, 2025 8:00am to 3:00pm EST

Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day 2025

ebailey — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 18:05:17 +0000

Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day 2025 ebailey Tue, 09/03/2024 - 14:05

Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day 2025

Tags: Research

Location: VCOM-Carolinas, 350 Howard Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) – Carolinas Campus will hold its Eleventh Annual Via Research Recognition Day on Friday, February 21, 2025. Research Day is a significant event for SWAG��Ƶand supports the mission of the College to provide medical education and research that prepares globally minded, community-focused physicians and improves the health of those most in need.

Registration

Registration is FREE but required for all participants, including students and poster presenters. Registration opens on November 11, 2024, and the deadline to register is February 3, 2025.

Register Now

Hotel Accommodations

With registration for this event, you get:

Program materials
Lunch will be provided during the event
Full access to all event activities

For any problems with registration, please email researchday-cc@carolinas.vcom.edu.

Agenda

Coming Soon

Speakers

Coming Soon

How do I participate?

Attendees are invited to submit their research abstract via email below and, if accepted, will be invited to share their research during the poster session that will be held on Friday, February 21, 2025. Submission categories will include Biomedical Research, Clinical/Educational Research, and Case Reports.

Research Day Abstract Submission Form (PDF)

Abstracts must be submitted electronically to researchday-cc@carolinas.vcom.edu using the Abstract Submission Form at the link above. The deadline for abstract submission is 12:00 noon on Monday, November 25.

In the interest of professionalism and fairness, no extensions for abstract submission will be granted.

For questions about abstract submissions or participation in the poster competition, please email the Research Day Committee at researchday-cc@carolinas.vcom.edu.

When an abstract is accepted, the submitting author will receive further instructions on poster submission via email. Three presentations from each category will be considered for a cash prize.

SWAG��Ƶprovides free poster printing for any participant with an accepted abstract. Details will be sent to submitting authors with the abstract acceptance email.

Free SWAG��ƵPoster Printing Deadline is 5:00 PM, Monday, January 27, 2025

What will this conference offer?

The Via Research Recognition Day is a forum for health professionals and scientists at academic institutions, teaching hospitals, and practice sites to present or benefit from new research innovations and programs intended to improve the health of all humans. By attending the oral presentations and poster sessions, participants will have the opportunity to learn cutting edge information in the physiological bases of osteopathic manipulative therapy efficacy, new trends in physician-based research networks, and how to develop innovative research projects with high impact for human health., Participants will also learn about the biomedical, clinical and educational research activities at SWAG��Ƶand partner institutions will have an opportunity to identify new collaborative research opportunities.

Who should attend?

Medical students, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, public health professionals, medical residents, other health profession students and others interested in primary care issues and research.

Disclosure Statement

Campus: Carolinas

When: February 21, 2025 All day

Strengthening VCOM’s Partnership with Auburn University through Obesity and Diabetes Research

ebailey — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:05:45 +0000

Strengthening VCOM’s Partnership with Auburn University through Obesity and Diabetes Research ebailey Mon, 07/01/2024 - 15:05

Strengthening VCOM’s Partnership with Auburn University through Obesity and Diabetes Research

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Obesity is a growing health crisis affecting nearly 20% of the global adult population. It is associated with increased severity of infections, reduced responses to vaccines and increased risk for autoimmune disease. Further, it is a factor in major metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. Despite the widespread nature of obesity, however, the mechanisms underlying obesity-associated immune system dysfunction are poorly understood.

To address this problem, Joseph W. Brewer, PhD, a professor of immunology at VCOM-Auburn, is collaborating with Robert L. Judd, PhD, a professor at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine and an expert in adipocytes (fat cells). Adipocytes store fat as an energy source for the body and help regulate metabolic processes. They also affect cell types in other tissues, so Brewer and Judd reasoned that adipocytes are well-equipped to communicate with the immune system.

With intramural funding from the SWAG��ƵCenter for One Health Research, the team developed a system to investigate the hypothesis that adipocytes influence the behavior of B lymphocytes, a key cell type in the immune system that produces antibodies that fight infection but can also cause disease. VCOM-Auburn students participate in the work, helping generate critical knowledge about adipocyte-B lymphocyte interactions.

In their initial studies, the researchers investigated interactions between adipocytes and B lymphocytes. Preliminary findings suggest that adipocytes can indeed modulate B lymphocyte function, potentially leading to altered immune responses in obese individuals.

In the long term, Brewer and Judd plan to extend their work into studies of adipocytes and B lymphocytes from mouse models of diet-induced obesity and aging, as well as from healthy and obese human subjects. This comprehensive approach will make it possible to understand more fully the relationships between obesity and immune system functions. The goal is to identify novel therapeutic targets to mitigate the adverse effects of obesity on immune health.

Brewer, Judd and many other VCOM-Auburn faculty members participate in the Boshell Research Program, which aims to enhance opportunities for diabetes research at Auburn University by facilitating cross-disciplinary scientific discussion, supporting the study of new ideas, fostering the development of investigators new to the field of diabetes and expanding the overall base of diabetes investigation at the university. The vision of the Boshell Research Program is to improve the lives of people with diabetes through the world-class investigation into the prevention, cure and management of the disease and its complications.

That vision nicely complements VCOM-Auburn’s mission to cultivate community-focused physicians who will improve the lives of rural and medically underserved populations and advance research to enhance human health. The collaborative efforts of Brewer and Judd are a key part of the meaningful relationship between SWAG��Ƶand Auburn University.

Research

Auburn

By Brittany Lilla -

VCOM-Virginia Researcher of the Year: Harsha Bhagtani, MD

ebailey — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:55:50 +0000

VCOM-Virginia Researcher of the Year: Harsha Bhagtani, MD ebailey Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:55

VCOM-Virginia Researcher of the Year: Harsha Bhagtani, MD

Dr. Bhagtani's students show off her Researcher of the Year Award

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VCOM-Virginia is home to some pretty amazing faculty, which makes it difficult to choose just one each year for Researcher of the Year. This year’s recipient, Harsha Bhagtani, MD, is the discipline chair for pediatrics and is devoted to making sure her students have ample opportunities to engage in research with her. “It is very important for students to be involved in research,” she says. “As a medical school, we need to foster the future researchers of tomorrow.”

Currently, Dr. Bhagtani and her students are working on “Feed, Read and Grow,” a multi-agency project focused on improving access to health services, food, and literacy resources in the community. The goal of the project is to deliver educational information on pediatric health-related topics in a creative way. To accomplish that, partnerships have been forged with professionals throughout the community and they are creating a suite of age-appropriate videos for children.

Elizabeth Acors ’26, one of the students working on the project, says she has learned a lot. “Dr. Bhagtani is so passionate about all of her research projects because they will benefit many children struggling with a variety of topics like mental health,” Acors says. “The team she has put together consists of incredible people who work together so well, and I appreciated how they included me and the other students every step of the way.”

Dr. Bhagtani believes that community collaborations are a vital part of doing effective research. “The information is developed and vetted by a multitude of professionals, including pediatricians, personal trainers, librarians, psychologists and teachers,” she says. “Our goal is to increase the ease with which accurate and high-quality information can be provided to members of the community. Development of such a resource involves the creation of musical educational videos that feature an original song created by author, chemical engineer, and artist Carolina Smales, also known as Carol Joy ®.”

It is very important for students to be involved in research. As a medical school, we need to foster the future researchers of tomorrow.

Harsha Bhagtani, MD , VCOM-Virginia Discipline Chair for Pediatrics

Of course, as a medical educator, she enjoys working with students and says they bring a fresh perspective to the work. “The students bring their own talents to the collaboration and improve the work with their involvement,” Dr. Bhagtani observes. “They are very interested in community service and leaving a legacy of good community programs that will benefit our patients and families.”

Spencer Prematta ’27 has become even more interested in community service as a result of his work on the project. “Dr. Bhagtani has really instilled in me the importance of public and community health that I will certainly take with me as a physician,” he says.

In addition to being a valuable learning experience, working with Dr. Bhagtani is an uplifting experience. “Dr. Bhagtani is the most kind, joyful, encouraging, and dedicated person I've ever met,” says Brittany Renner ’27. “She has such a passion and vision for everything she does, including this research, and it shows. This research would not be possible without her.”

Dr. Bhagtani, along with her students and community partners, has just finished a series of pediatric anxiety videos. They are currently applying for more grants to continue their work, and she hopes to address other mental health issues for children, such as depression.

award Research

Virginia

By Amy Ostroth -

Collaborative SWAG��Ƶand Virginia Tech Research Projects to Study Low Back Pain

ebailey — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 18:30:33 +0000

Collaborative SWAG��Ƶand Virginia Tech Research Projects to Study Low Back Pain ebailey Wed, 03/20/2024 - 14:30

Collaborative SWAG��Ƶand Virginia Tech Research Projects to Study Low Back Pain

1710936000

Low back pain (LBP) is a condition that affects millions of people each year. It is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the condition for which the greatest number of people may benefit from rehabilitation.

Al Kozar, DO, knows a little something about LBP.

Dr. Kozar is a professor of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and sports medicine at VCOM-Virginia. He is also a practicing physician at the SWAG��ƵSports & Osteopathic Medicine practice in Blacksburg where he regularly treats patients suffering from LBP. He points out that chronic back pain can have a major impact on the quality of life because in addition to biological and mechanical challenges, it also has psychosocial implications. “Everybody responds differently, based on their upbringing and how their family addressed pain and how much the pain affects their ability to do their work or their daily activities,” he says. “We often put up with back pain until it prevents us from doing those things. But pain tells us there is dysfunction somewhere in the musculoskeletal system.”

Dr. Kozar is collaborating with Vincent Wang, Ph.D., director of Virginia Tech’s Orthopedic Mechanobiology Laboratory, on two research projects to better understand the causes of back pain and how to treat it more effectively.

Like Dr. Kozar, Wang is an expert in the musculoskeletal system. His laboratory in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics has received millions of dollars in funding to “support a variety of projects related to skeletal soft tissue biomechanics, repair, and healing.” The new research will build on recent advances in Wang’s lab and will include faculty and students at both SWAG��Ƶand Virginia Tech. The researchers will recruit people who have LBP, as well as people who don’t, to perform ultrasound imaging on their thoracolumbar fascia (TLF). Ultrasound is a useful diagnostic tool, in part because it does not use ionizing radiation, is inexpensive and is effective in detecting soft tissue changes.

The TLF is integral to body movement. It has an important mechanical function in enabling us to bend over and pick things up, and it is a proprioceptive structure, meaning that it helps our bodies sense movement, action and our location in space. Dysfunction in this large soft tissue complex may be a frequent cause of LBP. However, TLF is also incredibly thin—only about 5 mm thick—so its injury is difficult to diagnose clinically. Medical imaging techniques such as ultrasound allow physicians and researchers to more effectively investigate changes not only to a patient’s TLF structure but also the glide motion within the layers of the TLF.

The teams are partnering on two funded projects related to diagnosing and treating LBP. The first project will take 24 months and is being funded by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) because service members and veterans often suffer from LBP due to the nature of their work. The DoD funding will enable the teams to study the effectiveness of a novel treatment called hydrodissection, which involves using ultrasound guidance to apply a dextrose solution to the TLF to separate its tissue layers and restore any glide restriction that might be contributing to causing a patient’s pain.

Additional funding from the American Osteopathic Association will enable an 18-month study on how osteopathic manipulative treatments can do essentially the same thing—relieve the restriction in the TLF.

Dr. Kozar anticipates that he will spend more than 1,500 hours over the next two years using ultrasound to acquire images of patients’ TLF. Wang’s research team will then perform detailed computer-based image analyses to help them quantify lower back flexibility and examine potential relationships between pain, function and imaging metrics. In addition to using conventional image analyses, the researchers will develop artificial intelligence approaches to objectively determine whether an image is from an individual with LBP.

“We hope these tools will further facilitate and improve clinical diagnosis, treatment and care of patients—not just within our group, but more broadly among clinicians and researchers in the field,” Wang says. Their research is particularly important because, he observes, “LBP can be experienced at any age, and we see these projects as valuable opportunities to extract valuable information from TLF ultrasound images in a manner that hasn’t been done before.”

Dr. Kozar’s team will study the clinical efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatments and track patients over time. “We will be testing some physical exam maneuvers to see if they will be able to predict that a patient’s pain is being caused by TLF as opposed to something else,” he says. Dr. Kozar has been using these maneuvers for several years and the research will help him understand their effectiveness at predicting an issue with a patient’s TLF.

For years, we taught that an acute episode of back pain would go away in a couple of days, and it was nothing to worry about, but that’s not true at all. For 65-85% of people, those episodes get closer together, and they eventually end up with daily chronic pain that can be debilitating. I think it is important to view back pain as a progressive disease that can be altered and stopped.

Albert J Kozar, DO, FAOASM, R-MSK , Professor for Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and Sport Medicine SWAG��ƵVirginia

In addition to developing effective treatments for LBP, the research may be able to prove to entities like insurance companies that there are evolving technologies that are useful for patients and that physicians should be able to use them. The more treatments that are covered, the more patients who can be treated.

Although SWAG��Ƶis an independent medical school, the faculty and researchers at the College’s four campuses—in Blacksburg, Virginia; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Auburn, Alabama; and Monroe, Louisiana—have productive and meaningful research partnerships with colleagues at other institutions like Virginia Tech and Auburn University.

Dr. Kozar and Wang, who have already worked together for several years on tendon studies, are eager to expand their collaboration to similar tissues like the TLF. “[Physicians] do a lot of things clinically, but we don’t always know how they work,” Dr. Kozar notes. “I don’t have the capacity to conduct mechanistic studies, so we need somebody to partner with us to look at those things.”

“Collaborations are vital,” Wang said in 2022. “I pursue what I regard to be highly important and timely clinical topics, but I’m not a physician. Combining expertise is how we address these challenges and hopefully improve others’ lives.”

Study participants are needed for this research. If you are between the ages of 18 and 50—whether you have LBP or not—you might qualify to particpate. Read full details and find out how to participate.

Research

Virginia

By Amy Ostroth -

VCOM-Carolinas’ Student Researcher of the Year Max Muir

ebailey — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:05:53 +0000

VCOM-Carolinas’ Student Researcher of the Year Max Muir ebailey Mon, 03/18/2024 - 15:05

VCOM-Carolinas’ Student Researcher of the Year Max Muir

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Amidst the resounding success of VCOM-Carolinas’ Research Recognition Day, held on campus February 9, emerged a student researcher who, according to the SROY Selection Committee “exemplifies a dedication to osteopathic research, leadership in osteopathic research, professional development, and the embodiment of osteopathic philosophy”: Max Muir. A member of the Class of 2024, Mr. Muir hails from Columbus, Ohio and is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science degree with a Chemistry Concentration in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery.

According to the Committee, “Max has always had an interest in research, but his journey really began at Ohio State while investigating growth factors within concentrated and unconcentrated platelet-rich and poor plasma as a biotherapeutic device for osteoarthritis. He went on to pursue novel research at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where he expanded his research into 3D-bioprinting islets, developing a water-based decellularization method for the pancreas, creating oxygen delivery systems, and more. While at VCOM, he worked with Dr. Mount on hypophosphatemia and traumatic brain injury, joined a pediatrics team to investigate maternal stress in a NICU setting, and initiated a project to investigate bone marrow aspirate concentration in two and three-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Max hopes to use his research experience and skills to mentor other students and investigate the role of osteopathic medicine in orthopedic post-op patients who are still experiencing symptoms. We have no doubt that he will go on to do great things!”

In all, 119 posters were presented at this year’s Research Day, a new VCOM-Carolinas record Congratulations to Student Researcher of the Year Max Muir and all the talented, hard-working participants in this year’s event!

Research

Carolinas

By James Nichols -

Research

Auburn Research Recognition Day 2025

Auburn Research Recognition Day 2025

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Speakers

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Disclosure Statement

SWAG��ƵHosts 10th Annual Research Retreat

Research at VCOM

SWAG��ƵResearch Collaboration with Virginia Tech Earns NIH Funding

Louisiana Research Day 2025

Louisiana Research Day 2025

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Speaker

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Disclosure Statement

Virginia Research Day 2025

Virginia Research Day 2025

Research Day Virginia: February 14, 2025

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Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day 2025

Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day 2025

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Strengthening VCOM’s Partnership with Auburn University through Obesity and Diabetes Research

VCOM-Virginia Researcher of the Year: Harsha Bhagtani, MD

Collaborative SWAG��Ƶand Virginia Tech Research Projects to Study Low Back Pain

Study Participants Needed

VCOM-Carolinas’ Student Researcher of the Year Max Muir