UT Dallas researcher wins grant to assist veterans

Dr. Daniel Krawczyk, deputy director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas, was recently awarded a $2.7 million grant for his efforts to help veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Krawczyk will use the U.S. Department of Defense grant to attempt to improve cognitive and functional deficits for those veterans through virtual technology.

“Those who experience a traumatic brain injury often struggle with working memory, planning and cognitive control, which impacts real-life functionality,” Krawczyk said. “Utilizing an innovative virtual-reality platform, we hope to improve cognitive difficulties in individuals with chronic TBI by training strategies to accomplish complex real-life tasks.”

The study will involve more than 100 veterans and use brain imaging and neuropsychological evaluations conducted as they receive training to improve cognitive and functional deficits. Part of that training will include time using “Expedition,” a virtual-reality experience from Virtual Hero.

“The project represents a great opportunity to leverage the innovative work Virtual Heroes has done in serious gaming to address a critical need for this important and highly vulnerable population of veterans,” Greg Rule, project manager of Applied Research Associates, which owns Virtual Heroes, said. “The program must be tailored to the audience, entertaining enough to encourage them to use it, but capable of collecting the necessary data on cognitive performance of the users.”