Subbian Receives Half-Million Grant for Traumatic Brain Injury Study

Vignesh Subbian, assistant professor in BME and SIE, is principal investigator on a new grant of just over $500,000 from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to help better characterize traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, and predict their outcomes – and, therefore, treat them more effectively.

With traumatic brain injury as the leading cause of death and disability for individuals under age 44, and an estimated 1.7 million cases occurring in the United States every year, it’s an area in dire need of better predictive tools and further research.

Using analytical techniques and data gathered from advanced monitoring of brain injury patients, researchers will develop methods to better classify TBI patients and predict what might happen next.

This grant -- funded by the Smart and Connected Health Program, a partnership between multiple federal agencies, including NSF and the National Institutes of Health -- brings together key researchers and clinicians from other institutions, including Emory University, the University of Cincinnati and Virginia Tech, with nearly $1.2 million in support from NSF overall.

BME department head Art Gmitro said Subbian has been a fantastic addition to the department’s faculty.

“Not only has he developed an active research program in the area of medical informatics and health care systems engineering, as evidenced by this grant, but he has also proven to be an outstanding teacher and mentor for our students,” Gmitro said.