30 August 2019
Geneva Employees Receive Young Investigator Competition Award at MHSRS
The Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) is the premier scientific meeting hosted by the Department of Defense. The event draws 2,900+ leading military members and civilians to collaborate and discuss scientific knowledge that advances the medical needs specific to the warfighter.
On the last day of the event, the winners of the Young Investigator Competition, MHSRS’s most competitive session, were announced by Dr. Kelley Brix, Director, Interagency Research Coordination, Research and Development Directorate at the Defense Health Agency, Dr. Michael J. Morris, Professor of Medicine at Uniformed Services University and Young Investigator Competition Session Chair, and Dr. Terry Rauch, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight. A record-breaking 368 abstracts were submitted for review, with only 10 selected to be presented at the symposium.
Congratulations to the 2nd place recipient of the 2019 MHSRS Young Investigator Competition award, Geneva employee Research Scientist Teryn Roberts, Ph.D., U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, for her research titled, “Evaluation of Tethered-liquid Perfluorocarbon Coating for Heparin-free Extracorporeal Life Support: A 72-hour Life Support Intensive Care Unit Study.” Geneva researcher and employee Research Scientist Andriy Batchinsky, MD, U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Roberts.
Dr. Roberts’ study focuses on how to extend the use of extracorporeal life support therapy, which is associated with organ transplants and often results in blood clotting. To reduce the use of medicines that prevent blood clots, Dr. Roberts studied a possible coating to stop bleeding and blood clots. The study concluded that neither the tested coatings nor current standard of care are optimal solutions to prevent blood clotting, but researchers plan to further study and evaluate other types of materials.
*Photo L-R: Dr. Rauch, Dr. Batchinsky, Dr. Morris
