Press Release Index - July 1, 2010
 
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Commonwealth Health Research Board
CHRB Announces Awards Totaling $775,105 to 9 medical and health researchers in Virginia


Chairman of the Commonwealth Health Research Board, Dr. Robert S. Call today announced awards totaling $775,105 to 9 medical and health researchers in Virginia.  The researchers are from Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, Eastern Virginia Medical School, James Madison University, Mary Baldwin College, Radford University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University.  

“The Commonwealth Health Research Board [CHRB] provides great opportunities for researchers to improve the health of Virginia’s citizens,” said Dr. Call.  “Virginia’s own CHRB is also a unique resource dedicated to help Virginia’s scientists achieve their dreams.”

The seven new grants funded this year include: breast cancer, La Crosse virus, Autism Spectrum Disorders, renal injury in newborn infants, schizophrenia, sepsis, and diabetes.  

Two investigators have received a second year of funding to enable them to continue studies in the following areas:  determining the cause of HIV NeuroAIDS and designing a novel treatment for the hearing impaired.  
 
“It is always difficult, but fascinating, to choose those to be funded - - doubly so this year with lots of quality papers and less cash to distribute.  We have a prime selection of researchers,” added CHRB Vice Chairman Dr. George E. Broman.

The list of researchers, their respective research institutions, the amounts of their awards, the matching funds supplied by the recipient institutions, and the titles of the projects are attached.

The Board was established in 1997 by the Virginia General Assembly using funds provided from the conversion of Trigon from a mutual company to a stock company.  The Board awards grants for traditional medical and biomedical research as well as research related to health services the delivery of health care.  From 1999 to 2010, the CHRB has awarded $9.6 million dollars in research grant funds.

The CHRB has the flexibility to provide grant funding for creative and innovative research projects that have scientific merit and hold promise for maximizing human health benefits for citizens of the Commonwealth OF Virginia.  CHRB grant recipients, for grant awards made in 1999 through 2004, have leveraged $14.2 million in additional private and federal grant funds to further their research studies.