CHRB Awards Totaling $763,675 to
Ten Medical & Health Researchers in Virginia
RICHMOND —Chairman of the Commonwealth Health Research Board, Mr. S. Lawrence Kocot today
announced awards totaling $763,675 to 10 medical and health researchers in
Virginia. The researchers are from Sweet Briar College, Eastern Virginia
Medical School, Lynchburg College, James Madison University, Virginia
Commonwealth University, University of Virginia, George Mason University and
Norfolk State University.
“The proposals selected for funding have a tremendous potential to enhance the
health and well being of Virginia citizens,” said Chairman Kocot.” The six new grants funded this year include support for studies on:
investigating the cellular mechanism for reduced bone strength in the feet of
some diabetic patients; examining the cause of thrombosis in some women being
treated for breast cancer; studying a protein made by leukemia virus that
causes DNA damage; identifying possible new therapies for treating malignant
melanoma; examining novel therapeutic agents to treat antibiotic resistance;
and, developing an animal model that could lead to better diagnosing and
treating attention-deficit hyperactivity.
Four investigators have received a 2nd year of funding to enable them to
continue studies on the following areas: using medicinal herbs to treat
bacterial infections; developing a new method to prevent infections caused by a
biohazard; an improved treatment of chronic wounds; and, exploring some
cellular mechanisms that play a role in the onset and manifestation of
dementia. “These diseases and disorders have significant consequences for hundreds of
thousands of Virginians, and we hope the research will lead to significant
advances in diagnosis and treatment in each of these areas.”
“It is extremely gratifying to see the success of our competitive grant program
this year, “added CHRB Vice Chairman Kamlesh N. Dave. “The Board received 42 grant applications. Many of these were excellent
proposals.”
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 is 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 and the delivery of
health care.
As a result of work funded by the CHRB, two past CHRB grant recipients, Dr.
Cynthia S. Kelly and
Dr. Paul H. Ratz, of Eastern Virginia Medical School, were successful in
obtaining additional grant funds for their research projects. Dr. Kelly was
successful in obtaining one of eight awards for an “Allies Against Asthma” program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a competition
of 250 investigators. The grant is in an amount of $1.5 million over four years.
Dr. Ratz was recently funded for four years at $730,000 by the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National
Institutes of Health.
The members of the Board are: S. Lawrence Kocot, Chairman, Alexandria; Kamlesh
N. Dave, M.D., Hopewell; David L. Bernd, Norfolk; The Honorable George E.
Broman, M.D. Forest; Jan Burrus, R.Ph., Alexandria; Robert S. Call, M.D.,
Richmond; Mark J. Werner, M.D., Roanoke.
