Dentist among "PTSD research" grants

UPDATE March 3, 2013
Looks like the CDC has been giving out money too.

CDC Grant Supports New Research Center for Suicide Prevention
August 20, 2012

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has awarded the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center a five-year grant of $4.1 million to establish an Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention (ICRC-S).

Rochester’s center is one of only 11 Injury Control Research Centers in the country funded by the CDC and the only one focused primarily on suicide prevention. The ICRC-S is unique as well for being based in a psychiatry department.

“The suicide rate in the United States has been climbing over the last decade,” said Eric D. Caine, M.D. chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the grant’s principal investigator. “We will investigate the factors that contribute to family-level violence and intimate partner violence that also are factors that contribute to suicide. We will pay special attention to suicide occurring among men and women in the middle years, from 35 to 65. The overall increase in suicide in the United States has been driven by increases in the mid-life age range.”

For the ICRC-S, the Department of Psychiatry has partnered with the Education Development Center Inc. (EDC), a non-profit organization based in Waltham, Mass., that, Caine said, has extensive experience providing technical assistance and outreach to states and local communities to help them develop new knowledge, disseminate information, implement evidence-based practices, collect and analyze data, and evaluate outcomes.

If you read the other post on Military Suicides and the money behind them, you will really love this one. There are millions of dollars being made on redoing research that had been done over the last 40 years and the following will make your jaw drop too. The worst thing is, it took less than an hour to find these reports.

Dentistry gets grant to develop PTSD test
LOS ANGELES — Each year, more than a million Americans are at risk of developing serious mental health problems after experiencing a terrifying event or serious physical injury. Once manifested, these psychiatric illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, can be extremely crippling and difficult to treat and are a leading cause of disability in civilian, military and minority populations.

Recognizing these emerging disorders early on provides health care professionals the best opportunity for preventive interventions.

Now, a team of researchers, led by Dr. Vivek Shetty, a professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry, has received a $3.8 million research grant to develop a salivary-biomarker approach for identifying individuals at future risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following a traumatic event.

Co-funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institutes of Health's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the study seeks to develop a panel of salivary stress biomarkers that will allow early recognition of emerging mental health disorders and permit preemptive psychological care.

"Current assessment strategies rely on subjective reports of symptoms by trauma survivors," Shetty said. "The symptom-based nature of psychological assessments presents significant challenges for trauma-care specialists attempting to differentiate between temporary distress and the early stages of mental health illnesses.

$2.4 Million Grant to Study the Transcendental Meditation program and PTSD in Veterans
December 2, 2012
Maharishi University of Management Research Institute in partnership with the San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study the effect of the Transcendental Meditation® technique on post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans.

The randomized controlled clinical trial will compare the Transcendental Meditation program to prolonged-exposure treatment — a trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy considered to be the VA’s gold standard. A third group will receive health education. The study will follow 210 subjects and will take four years to complete.

Grant gives counties chance to tackle PTSD treatment
By Charlie Ban
STAFF WRITER

A single gunshot makes an indelible mark in the memory of anyone who hears it. The flurry of them in combat can build a wall that people who haven’t experienced the same thing likely cannot penetrate.

There is no one right way to treat a mental illness like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That truism has led to several approaches to combat it, and three counties in New York are starting two-year pilot programs to bring peer mentors to their veterans who suffer from PTSD.

A state grant gives $200,000 for two years to Jefferson, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. Suffolk also received a grant through the program, and has formed a task force to study the increased incidence of suicide among veterans. Students at the State University of New York-Albany School of Social Work will evaluate the programs starting in 2013.

Tim Ruetten, Jefferson County’s coordinator of mental health, said research on peer-to-peer support for veterans is sparse, but the approach is sound. If nothing else, it allows veterans to spend time with someone who understands their experiences. The county is contracting out program administration.

“They provide camaraderie,” he said. “When they are discharged (from the military), they lose contact with a culture that saturates you.”

Although the volunteers are given training, focusing on confidentiality, identifying PTSD, engagement skills and suicide prevention protocols, Ruetten said the program will be non-clinical.

“We don’t want to create counselors, there are plenty of clinical approaches available,” he said. “This will be a way for a veteran to find an advocate, a buddy, and someone who is able to help streamline them into treatment if that’s where it needs to go.”

The U.S. departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs both support clinics in Jefferson County, which includes Fort Drum, but Ruetten said the program will serve to add diversity in the treatment offerings available. And it will give retired combat veterans an opportunity to lend their help to their brothers and sisters in arms.

September 19, 2012
VA and DoD to Fund $100 Million PTSD and TBI Study
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense (DoD) are investing more than $100 million in research to improve diagnosis and treatment of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“At VA, ensuring that our Veterans receive quality care is our highest priority,” said Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “Investing in innovative research that will lead to treatments for PTSD and TBI is critical to providing the care our Veterans have earned and deserve.”

The two groups, The Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (CAP) and the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC) will be jointly managed by VA, and by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), on behalf of the DoD.

Detrick receives $100M for PTSD, TBI research
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 8, 2012

FREDERICK, Md. — Fort Detrick is receiving $100 million in federal grants to fund research into post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.

The Frederick News-Post says the initiative, funded by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, was announced Friday by the Fort Detrick-based Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.

Penn Medicine Receives $7.7 Million Grant From Department of Defense to Study PTSD
September 25, 2012
PHILADELPHIA – A team of researchers led by Edna Foa PhD, professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry and director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania , has received a $7.7 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to study the most effective way to implement Prolonged Exposure therapy, an effective and efficient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among mental health practitioners who treat soldiers suffering from this disorder.

PTSD research team gets $3.5 million Defense Department grant
March 8, 2012

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $3.5 million grant for a research project to more effectively treat post-traumatic stress disorder and ultimately prevent it from occurring.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant awarded to an interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is intended to fuel the development of innovative technology for the military,according to a statement from Penn Medicine. It is being used to fund studies of military personnel who are being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder over a two-year period and marks the second phase of a two-part project.

Department of Defense grant boosts PTSD research
Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Dec. 13, 2011

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the University of Southern California have been awarded an $11 million Department of Defense grant to test two different types of exposure therapy combined with the drug D-Cycloserine (DCS) for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Exposure therapy is an evidence-based intervention that has been demonstrated as effective in the treatment of PTSD. During each exposure therapy session, patients repeatedly retell their traumatic experience with the guidance of a trained clinician. D-Cycloserine, a cognitive enhancer, has been found by Emory researchers to facilitate the extinction of fear that occurs during exposure therapy.

also this report

$11 Million Grant Funds Study of PTSD Therapies
December 14, 2011

Researchers at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Emory University School of Medicine have been awarded an $11 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to test different ways to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including the use of a virtual-reality exposure therapy developed at ICT.

The study will involve 300 military and civilian personnel who have been diagnosed with PTSD as a consequence of their service in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The goals are to decrease the time needed for effective treatment of PTSD, give the right treatment to the right person, and identify factors involved in its development and response to treatment.

The researchers also will examine personal and genetic factors that may impact an individual’s chances of developing PTSD, as well as future response to therapy.

The grant is a culmination of years of collaborative and novel research by investigators who are known as leaders in their field. It was led by JoAnn Difede, director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of psychology in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. Co-investigators were Albert “Skip” Rizzo, associate director of medical virtual reality at ICT and research professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and Barbara Rothbaum, director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine.

Study seeks biomarkers for Invisible War Scars
New York Times
James Dao
February 6, 2013

Now, in one of the largest studies of its kind, a team of researchers based out of New York University’s medical school have begun a five-year study to find biological signals, known as biomarkers, that could provide reliable, objective evidence of those so-called invisible injuries of war.

Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the military’s medical school in Bethesda, Md., are studying soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., in search of PTSD biomarkers. And Draper Laboratory, a nonprofit research company based in Cambridge, Mass., has recruited experts to look for biomarkers for the disorder.

Dr. Marmar’s project is significant both because of its size — researchers hope to recruit 1,500 subjects — but also because much of its financing is already guaranteed through a $17 million grant from the Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation, founded by the billionaire hedge-fund manager. Dr. Marmar hopes to match that with federal grants.

Research Program: PTSD Protocol for War Veterans Marshall University is a central player in furthering the goals of the Research and Recognition Project. Grant projects and the development of the first NLP University Center in the U.S. are moving forward. Professor William McDowell, a long time NLP trainer, joined the Research & Recognition Project at its inception in 2007. When we decided to focus on the PTSD area he collected a team necessary to develop grant proposals. The team spearheaded the writing and development of a $300,000 pilot grant proposal and a three year state of the art scientific grant proposal of $12,000,000 to $13,000,000. Both those grants are currently being circulated for funding, at Marshall University, D.O.D., and in a number of White papers to Congress and the Services. A terrible development occurred with this in mid April (2008) when Professor McDowell suffered a massive heart attack and was forced to retire from Marshall University. With Professor McDowell’s recovery last summer and his appointment as Professor Emeritus, the Grant applications and the development of the first NLP University Center in the U.S. are again going forward. When difficulties arose communicating the nature of the NLP PTSD treatment protocol it was decided to produce a DVD example of the treatment applied to an Iraq War veteran from the pilot program at Marshall University. Funds to do this were found by Howard McClintick of CTC Foundation, and the DVD example of the NLP PTSD treatment protocol was successfully completed at Marshall University.

While this was not from last year, it added in this bit of news on "Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, the best of the researched methods, is effective 32% of the time and takes four to nine months."