TEMPLE, Texas (December 1, 2008) - The Department of Veterans Affairs VISN 17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans (COE) was established at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in mid-2007.  The COE is funded by the VA and will be focusing on research into the causes and treatments for substance abuse, PTSD and other problems encountered by returning war veterans.

The COE is led by Suzy Gulliver, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the College of Medicine. Dr Gulliver comes to central Texas from Boston University, where she led a research team investigating substance abuse and PTSD.  Dr Gulliver is a principal investigator on NIH, FEMA and other grants, such as the ongoing "NIMH Risk and Resilience in Firefighter Recruits", a prospective study of the effects of traumatic stress on firefighters in six cities across the United States and Canada.

In central Texas, Dr Gulliver and the COE research team will be studying the trajectory of PTSD and substance abuse problems in veterans, and will be developing, characterizing and implementing new treatments for these conditions. The research team will not only be focusing on mental health outcomes, but will be integrating genetic and neuroimaging modalities into the proposed clinical studies.

Currently, the COE has seven full-time and five part-time VA and COM staff, including faculty, post-doctoral fellows, pre-doctoral interns and administrative and technical staff.  The COE plans to add another six to eight staff members this year, and will move into renovated 20,000+ square foot headquarters on the Waco VA campus in 2010 which will house clinical, health services and basic research programs.  Since the initiation of the center in mid 2007, the group has obtained over $4.7M in new grant funding.

In the coming months, open houses will be held at all three mobile MRI research sites (Waco, Temple and Fort Hood) to demonstrate the capabilities of the COE's mobile 3T MRI, the most powerful mobile imaging research unit in the world.  

The COE is currently organized into six cores:

Administrative Core - Core leader Dr Gulliver, supported by 2 staff and internal (Chair: Paul Hicks, MD, PhD) and external advisory committees (Chair: Walter Penk, PhD).

Treatment Core - Core leader currently in negotiations.  The treatment core will test the efficacy of current and novel cognitive behavioral and pharmacological therapy on PTSD and substance abuse in veterans and active duty troops.  In addition to research, the core will provide training in state-of-the-art treatments for PTSD and substance abuse for clinicians in Central Texas.

Assessment Core - Core leader Sandra Morissette, Ph.D.  The Assessment Core will perform a comprehensive longitudinal study of factors affecting the mental health outcome of OEF/OIF veterans.  Fellows and students associated with the program will receive state-of the art clinical training in current mental health assessment modalities.

Bioethics and Information Security Core - Core co-leader John Klocek, Ph.D.  The core will be responsible for data management plan and ethics review, and training in appropriate human subjects interactions.  Research on bioethics and data management will also be performed.

Neuroimaging and Genetics Core - Core leader Keith A. Young, Ph.D.  This core will perform research into the biological underpinnings of predisposition to mental health problems and treatment outcomes in veterans, including genetics and advanced imaging procedures.  The COE will host a clinical genomics laboratory and manage the COE mobile MRI and the mobile research testing facility. 

Education Core - The education core will develop and monitor products generated by the COE into programs and materials for export to other VA's and health care systems.  The core will also provide education for veterans and families of OEF/OIF veterans.