Massey Family Gift: New Era of TBI Research at U-M
Massey Family Gift: New Era of TBI Research at U-M
The Massey family, having experienced the devastating effects of TBI first-hand, hope that their gift will ensure that other families are spared from what they endured.
Robert Neumar, MD, PhD, chair of the U-M Medical School's Department of Emergency Medicine and William Barsan, MD, worked with the Massey family to develop the Joyce Massey TBI Program. It includes funds for clinical research, technology innovation, translational research, a patient/family support fund, and an annual TBI summit that brings together key researchers.
The Joyce Massey TBI Program includes:
- Massey EC3 Clinical Research Program: an ICU-level clinical practice for evaluating and implementing new diagnostic tools, monitoring techniques and therapeutic treatments.
- Massey TBI Technology Innovation Fund: to accelerate innovative research to produce technologies that will revolutionize the treatment of TBI during the "golden hours."
- Massey TBI Translational Research Program: to create and test interventional treatments that can have real-world impact.
- Massey TBI Patient & Family Support Fund: to assist patients treated in the EC3 and their families with the financial burden of TBI treatment and care.
- Annual Massey TBI Summit: to bring together key researchers from across the country working on cutting-edge TBI research. The inaugural summit will be held September 25th in Ann Arbor
Click here to learn more about the work being aided by the Massey Family gift.
As part of the Joyce Massey TBI Program, several TBI research proposals were chosen by the Oversight Committee for immediate, one-year funding:
Translational Science Projects
- Early administration of plasma and valproic acid (a brain protecting drug) to decrease the degree of brain injury and improve the speed of recovery -Hasan Alam
- Use of a cancer medication, Imatinib, also known as Gleevec, to protect the injured brain cells - Daniel Lawrence, Enming Su
- Treatment with an iron binding agent, deferoxamine, to reduce brain injury after traumatic brain hemorrhage - Guohua Xi, Ya Hua, Richard Keep, Hao Zhao
- Administration of branch chain amino acids and memantine to attenuate the traumatic brain damage - Leslie Satin
Technology Development Projects
- Real-time analytics tool that detects the early onset of hemodynamic instability to avoid secondary brain insults and injuries - Ashwin Belle, Kayvan Najarian, Venkatakrishna Rajajee, Kevin Ward
- Rapid and non-invasive assessment of intracranial pressure using ultrasound and impedance measurements of the eye -Venkatakrishna Rajajee, Barry Belmont, M. Hakam Tiba, Kevin Ward
- Automated brain imaging analysis system that:
- detects edema and its location
- detects hematoma and its severity
- estimates the midline shift and its location
- predicts intracranial pressure and its severity - Kayvan Najarian, Reza Soroushmehr, Kevin Ward, Venkatakrishna Rajajee, Hugh Garton
Click here to learn more about the Joyce and Don Massey Family Foundation gift