Annual Report - Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

ADVANCING THE SCIENCE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERSAs reported widely in the media, on January29, 2006, while reporting in Iraq, ABC newsanchor Bob Woodruff was severely injuredwhen his vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Taji.After receiving a life-saving craniectomy in Baladperformed by far-forward neurosurgeons, hewas airlifted to the Army hospital in Landstuhl,Germany, and then on to the National NavalMedical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda,Maryland, all within 72 hours of the blast.Department of Surgery. The reporter emergedfrom a five-week medically induced coma, and10 days later, was able to return home for furtherrehabilitation. Armonda traveled to New Yorkto assist with Woodruff’s cranioplasty using amilitary computer-manufactured acrylic plate andinjectable bone “paste.” Woodruff returned toNNMC one year later while filming an ABCNews special report chronicling his injury andsubsequent recovery.Upon arrival at NNMC, a team includingclinician/researcher Lieutenant Colonel RoccoArmonda, M.D., USU Class of 1990, performeda cerebral angiogram on Woodruff to ensurehe had no evidence of neurovascular injury. Dr.Armonda is an interventionalvascularneurosurgeon/intensivist with USU’sComprehensiveNeuroscienceProgram (CNP)and is a memberDr. Armonda (right) and a patientof the faculty of theThe CNP is a multi-site, collaborative clinicalresearch program working to improve the prevention,diagnosis and treatment of neurologicaldisorders, with a focus on acute care. Programresearchers examine neurological issues from abroad perspective that encompasses not onlybasic research, but also real-world applications.The initiative is a collaborative effort amongWalter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC),NNMC, Conemaugh Health System, USUand the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for theAdvancement of Military Medicine, under thedirection of Colonel William Campbell, M.D.,Chair of Neurology at USU.Extending Research CollaborationsUSU is working to increase research collaborations with the National Institutesof Health. University faculty not only seek out new research relationships, butthere is also a growing exchange between NIH personnel and USU faculty.These collaborations have attracted scientists from many of the institutes, amongthem the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).Johnan A. R. Kaleeba, Ph.D., is a virologist and Assistant Professor in the USUDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology. He came to the university fromNIAID to continue his scientific studies on mechanisms by which DNA tumorviruses infect and alter the growth of host cells leading to cancer. Dr. Kaleeba’swork at NIH culminated with the discovery that a protein normally involved inprotecting cells against inflammation is also co-opted as an entry receptor fora new herpesvirus that is associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma, the most commoncancer among people with weak immune systems. His work was published inthe prestigious journal Science.Now at USU, Dr. Kaleeba is developing novel approaches to harness thebody’s own anti-inflammatory defenses as a mechanism to attenuate theemergence of virus-associated syndromes, with the ultimate goal of developingtreatments for such illnesses.25