How is a new grant program enhancing health research in 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 are addressing the health challenges faced by Tennesseans. A new collaborative grant program led by UTHSC COM-K is set to support research and scholarly activities aimed at tackling health issues across Tennessee and beyond.

This program is allocating six awards totaling over $450,000 to support teams of clinicians, faculty, and researchers statewide, fostering innovation in medicine and biomedical research.

Robert Craft, dean of UTHSC COM-K, expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative: “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 facilitate a variety of projects, ranging from new strategies to address health disparities in rural areas to exploring how shared information between clinicians and patients can lead to personalized health improvement approaches. By collaborating, these teams are poised to significantly enhance the integration of translational research, new technologies, and health information to improve patient outcomes 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 include:

• 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 explore the geographic, sociodemographic, and clinical barriers faced by rural patients during cardiac rehabilitation.
• Qing Charles Cao, an associate professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UT, Knoxville, and his team will utilize machine learning processes to enhance disease management through personalized, evidence-based recommendations, aiming to reduce treatment disparities.
• 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 investigate a novel adipose-derived stem cell tissue system to study 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 link between ventilator-assisted pneumonia incidence and the microbiome associated with environmental endotracheal tube contamination.
• Paul Allen, a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UTHSC COM-K, and Trey Henderson, a research study coordinator, along with Bob Davis and Akram Mohammed, will focus on personalized postoperative pain therapy to minimize opiate-related adverse events.
• Anastasios Karydis, an associate professor in the Department of Periodontology at UTHSC COM-Memphis, and his colleagues will study the effects of periodontal treatment on rheumatoid arthritis outcomes to enhance the quality of life for patients with these comorbidities.