Building Community Through Research
After hours of blood, sweat, and tears (at times literally), Research Week has finally come and gone at VA Detroit. The 2024 theme “Building Community Through Research” furthered the VA mission of serving Veterans with the latest in healthcare innovations.
VA researchers make up innovative teams that have historically developed effective treatments for tuberculosis, invented the CAT scan and the pacemaker, and performed the first-ever liver transplant. More recently research investigators have been critical to supporting the PACT Act, Women's Health, Telehealth, suicide prevention, the President’s Cancer Moonshot, and much more.
“This is the one day we can get together and celebrate the advancement of research over the past year,” said Dr. Susmita Chowdhuri, Associate Chief of Staff for R&D at VA Detroit.
At VA Detroit, Dr. Chowdhuri’s team is focused on both basic and clinical applied research focused on improving Veteran patient services. Basic research is research to help scientists understand how things work, such as how a cell replicates. Clinical applied research is more focused on medical and clinical applications, such as more efficient drugs or improved therapeutic outcomes.
Research conducted at VA Detroit can vary significantly from year to year, but some repeated research focuses on areas related to sleep studies, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and substance use. According to the NIH, Veterans are slightly higher than the general population to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder.
“All of our research is geared toward Veteran health,” said Dr. Chowdhuri.
With more than 30 principal investigators conducting research on more than 80 active studies, VA Detroit researchers have received research funding of approximately $4.5 million in FY23 and have a funding success rate of 40 percent, including 26 VA funded research awards and 12 merit awards. These accomplishments are in addition to 23 peer reviewed journal articles. Much of this is made possible thanks to the partnership with Wayne State University.
“We could not do without our collaboration with Wayne State University,” said Dr. Chowdhuri. “All of our investigators have an appointment with Wayne State, either part or full-time.”
Research funding is not required to conduct research, however.
“They can do things like look at patient charts, gathering data for other questions, and more,” said Lynn Huber, R&D program specialist. “They can start small and work up to greater funding.”
In addition to funded research studies, VA Detroit also participates in the Million Veteran Program, a health research program that studies how genes, lifestyles, military experiences, and exposures affect health and wellness.
When asked how the community can support research at VA Detroit, Huber said, “Come to our research day the next time we have it. All the research we do at the VA is to benefit Veterans.”