Scientist recognized for innovations in brain injury research

A neuroscientist at the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida will talk about cutting edge efforts to diagnose traumatic brain injuries at a gala gathering of the National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004.

Ronald L. Hayes, Ph.D., director of the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Studies at UF, will talk about his efforts to develop a blood test to assess the severity of head wounds on the battlefield. The research is supported by a $2.2 million grant from the Department of Defense, but the test will have many public health applications, from gauging brain damage incurred after a drug overdose to reassuring soccer moms who worry when their children receive a blow to the head in the heat of a match.

In addition to discussing research, Hayes will receive the Lance Award for his scientific achievements and his lifetime contributions to the well being of persons with brain injuries, according to conference coordinators.

The Lance Award is named for Philip Lance Van Every Foil, a descendant of the founder of Lance snack foods. The family has a longstanding interest in furthering understanding and treatment of traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries cost the country more than $48 billion a year, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and between 2.5 million and 6.5 million Americans alive today have had a traumatic brain injury.

“I would place Dr. Hayes among the top three traumatic brain injury researchers in the world,” said Douglas Anderson, Ph.D., interim director of the McKnight Brain Institute. “He works very hard to translate his basic science, laboratory findings to the clinic, which is something that a lot more spinal cord and TBI researchers should be doing. His program has a strong clinical component and a strong basic science component. He works very hard to build the infrastructure to translate what he learns in the lab to the clinic.”

Previous Lance Award winners include John Jane, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Virginia who received national recognition for the spinal operation he performed on actor Christopher Reeve, and Graham Teasdale, professor and head of neurosurgery at the University of Glasgow since 1981.

“The diagnostic aspect of traumatic brain injury treatment is very important,” Hayes said. “It is imperative for sophisticated technology and science to move very quickly toward finding practical applications to help patients. I’m glad these efforts are providing some recognition to the McKnight Brain Institute.”

The National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation is a national, not-for-profit foundation organized to provide support for research, treatment and training in brain injury through individual research grants, contracts and small business grants. The primary goal of the Foundation is to find a “cure” for brain injury.