Largest Brain Study Ever at Virginia Tech – “Roanoke 15,000”
Having represented victims of traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) and supported the Brain Injury Association, I was thrilled to see that the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute will undertake the largest brain study ever conducted. According to the announcement in Virginia Business, the research study is to be called “Roanoke 15,000.” This new human brain study will be modeled after the Framingham Heart Study, which followed patients over the course of their lives since 1948 to identify heart function and diseases.
The brain study will document functions of normal and abnormal brains and genetic links. Having worked at the Columbia Presbyterian Neurological Institute and studied Applied Anatomy & Physiology at Boston University, I have seen how important a study involving a large population can be. Small studies may yield important findings, but they are often challenged as not involving a “statistically significant” number of subjects. This large of a group rivals even the cadaver bank at Johns Hopkins Medial Center, which has helped ABRAMS LANDAU clients with brain, head, spine, skull and inner ear injuries. I look forward to seeing the results of this ambitious, long-term study, and seeing its applications helping head trauma and brain injury victims.