SAN DIEGO–San Diego VA Medical Center will host a Research Symposium May 20 at the VA Medical Center multipurpose Room in La Jolla. The event is in association with National VA Research Week and will feature two presentations on local research advances.
“We want the community to know about the contributions we are making toward improving Veterans’ health care and to recognize our exceptional research team,” said Gerhard Schulteis, Chief of Research & Development at VASDHS (VASDHS). “Their work translates into better health care for America’s Heroes.”
Friday’s presentations will include:
* 11:45 a.m.: Effects of New Diabetes Drugs on the Kidney by Dr. Scott Thomson. The talk will focus on explaining how kidney function is regulated and will focus on a theory that is the basis for clinical trials using inhibitors of renal glucose reabsorption to reduce physical stress on a diabetic kidney. Dr. Thomson is the Chief of Nephrology at VASDHS and is head of hospital nephrology service at UC San Diego Thornton Hospital.
* 12:10 p.m.: Gene Therapy for Heart Failure by Dr. Kirk Hammond. The talk will concentrate on a study published online to JAMA Cardiology which states that use of intracoronary gene transfer among heart failure patients resulted in increased left ventricular function beyond standard heart failure therapy. H Kirk Hammond, MD is a Cardiologist at VA San Diego Healthcare System and Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego. For thirty years he has done basic and translational research funded by the NIH, VA and AHA, seeking new ways to treat clinical heart diseases.
The symposium will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at VA Medical Center, 3350 La Jolla Village Dr.
VASDHS has one of the largest research programs in the VA nationally, with a budget of over $43.2 million, 210 principal investigators and 679 projects during fiscal year 2015. Current VASDHS research studies are being conducted to learn more about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, Diabetes, sleep apnea, and drug addiction and alcoholism, among other disorders affecting the Veteran population. For more information about VA research, visit http://www.research.va.gov.
