UVA receives $3.2M to advance military brain health research

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A UVA Health researcher is leading a major effort to improve how the military protects the brain health of its service members.

The Department of Defense just awarded a $3.2 million grant to UVA Health to help advance that work.

The new research is led by UVA Health radiologist Doctor James Stone.

His goal? Strengthening a tool called the generalized blast exposure value, or GBEV.

“This is a tool that allows a service member to walk through their entire career,” Dr. Stone said. “To be able to go through and think about in a systematic way the categories and exposures they’ve been exposed too.”

GBEV assigns a score based on a service members exposure to blast waves, even from low-level detonations during training.

“That number is weighted based on the types of exposures they’ve had,” Dr. Stone said. “So, for instance, a small-arm rifle or pistol would have a much smaller weighting than a large explosive.”

Over time those exposures can lead to neurological damage.

Thanks to the grant funding, Dr. Stone and his team at UVA are combining data from more than 16,000 service members across 10 studies, all to refine the tool and guide future medical care.

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