What Caregivers Should Know: Traumatic Brain Injury, Posttraumatic Epilepsy and other TBI-related conditions that affect Veterans - Online

This presentation will provide an overview of studies examining the association of TBI and epilepsy followed by findings of outcomes among Veterans with epilepsy, TBI and both conditions compared to similar Veterans without either condition. We will conclude with an overview of preliminary data of the self-reported health impacts of individuals who provide care to Veterans with these conditions.

About the Speaker

Mary Jo Pugh Ph.D., R.N., is a retired Air Force nurse and Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Integrating her training as a Veteran, a nurse, and a developmental psychologist, she developed a research program to examine the long-term sequelae and outcomes of military exposures. Over the past decade she has targeted her work using VA data to identify phenotypes in populations with complex comorbidity such as those with traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy, and Gulf War illness. Dr. Pugh’s current work includes longitudinal studies to identify the emergence of distinct neurodegenerative conditions such as cognitive impairment and epilepsy, and clusters of multimorbidity that may have similar or networked biological underpinnings. Her longitudinal observational studies of approximately 1.6 million Veterans currently link Department of Defense (DoD) data with VA health system data to understand the impact of military exposures. These studies aim to understand which individuals are at highest risk of neurodegeneration, chronic disease and deficits in functional outcomes after TBI. Understanding the importance of caregivers in the health of service members and Veterans her work also examines the health impact of caring for Veterans with complex comorbidity in family caregivers.