Subbian Receives Half-Million Grant for Traumatic Brain Injury Study

Vignesh Subbian, assistant professor in SIE and BME, is principal investigator on a new grant of just over $500,000 from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to help better characterize traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, and predict their outcomes – and, therefore, treat them more effectively.

With traumatic brain injury as the leading cause of death and disability for individuals under age 44, and an estimated 1.7 million cases occurring in the United States every year, it’s an area in dire need of better predictive tools and further research.

Using analytical techniques and data gathered from advanced monitoring of brain injury patients, researchers will develop methods to better classify TBI patients and predict what might happen next.

“This will allow clinicians to provide the right care to the right TBI patient at the right time,” Subbian said.

This grant -- funded by the Smart and Connected Health Program, a partnership between multiple federal agencies, including NSF and the National Institutes of Health -- brings together key researchers and clinicians from other institutions, including Emory University, the University of Cincinnati and Virginia Tech, with nearly $1.2 million in support from NSF overall.

“This NSF award exemplifies a successful collaboration among systems and industrial engineering, biomedical engineering, computer science and health sciences to work on a complex, interdisciplinary problem that has a high impact on our society,” said Young-Jun Son, department head of SIE. “I am very proud of Dr. Subbian for leading this exciting project.”