Collaborative grant program boosts health research across Tennessee

Researchers from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine-Knoxville; the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Office of Research understand the challenges affecting the health and wellness of Tennesseans. A new system-wide collaborative grant program led by UTHSC COM-K is supporting research and scholarly activities to pursue discoveries addressing health issues across Tennessee and beyond.

The program will fund six awards totaling more than $450,000 to support teams of clinicians, faculty, and researchers from across the state to innovate in the field of medicine and biomedical research.

Robert Craft, dean of UTHSC COM-K, expressed enthusiasm for the program and the awards: "The problems we face in medicine and the effective treatment of patients are complex and multifaceted. By leveraging the strengths of each campus, we can achieve breakthroughs that would be impossible to accomplish in isolation. This funding represents our commitment to fostering biomedical and clinical innovation through collaboration."

The research grants will support a range of projects, from developing new approaches to health disparities in rural communities to understanding how information shared between clinicians and patients can be used to create personalized approaches for improving health and wellness. By working together, the teams will be well positioned to make significant strides in improving how translational research, new technologies, and health information converge to create improved outcomes for patients across Tennessee and beyond.

We are excited to see the transdisciplinary innovations that will emerge from these collaborations. The diversity of expertise represented on these teams, coupled with the breadth of health challenges across the state, means our combined efforts will not only advance scientific knowledge but also translate into tangible benefits for patients."

Brad Day, associate vice chancellor for research at UT

The awarded projects are:

R. Eric Heidel, a professor in the Department of Surgery at UTHSC COM-K; Raj Baljepally, a cardiologist in the Department of Cardiology at UTHSC COM-K; and Phoebe Tran, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health at UT, Knoxville, will investigate the geographic, sociodemographic, and clinical barriers that rural patients face during cardiac rehabilitation.

Qing Charles Cao, an associate professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UT, Knoxville; Angela Pfammatter, senior methodologist in UT Knoxville's College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and an associate professor in the Department of Public Health; Matthew Mihelic, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UTHSC COM-K; Agricola Odoi, assistant dean for research and graduate studies and a professor of epidemiology in UT Knoxville's College of Veterinary Medicine; Nabil Alshurafa, an associate professor of preventive medicine and computer science at Northwestern University; Jennifer Lord, an assistant professor of veterinary public health and epidemiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine; Bob Davis, professor and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Pediatrics at UTHSC COM-Memphis; and Wenjun Zhou, a professor in the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics at UT, Knoxville, will use machine learning-based processes to improve disease management through personalized evidence-based recommendations, reducing disparities in treatment and outcomes.

Tom Masi, an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at UTHSC COM-K, and Tim Sparer, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at UT, Knoxville, will study a novel adipose-derived stem cell tissue system for studying the complexities of human cytomegalovirus latency.

Rajiv Dhand, a professor in the Department of Medicine at UTHSC COM-K, and Qiang He, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UT, Knoxville, will examine the association between the incidence of ventilator-assisted pneumonia and the complex microbiome associated with environmental endotracheal tube contamination.

Paul Allen, a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UTHSC COM-K, and Trey Henderson, a UTHSC COM-K research study coordinator, with Bob Davis, professor and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Pediatrics at UTHSC COM-Memphis, and Akram Mohammed, an adjunct faculty member in pediatrics and the CBMI, will use personalized postoperative pain therapy to reduce opiate-related adverse events and total morphine milligram equivalents needed to relieve pain.

Anastasios Karydis, an associate professor in the Department of Periodontology at UTHSC COM-Memphis; Paul Terry, a professor in the Department of Medicine at UTHSC COM-K; Syed Hasan Raza, an associate professor in the Department of Rheumatology at UTHSC COM-Memphis; and Douglas Dixon, an associate professor in the Department of Periodontology, will study the impact of periodontal treatment on rheumatoid arthritis outcomes to improve the quality of life for patients with those comorbidities.