This week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will celebrate 91 years of research excellence during National VA Research Week.
As part of the nationwide observance, the Omaha VA Medical Center will conduct a Research Day event on Thursday, May 19. The program theme is “VA Research – The Path of Progress” and will include a poster session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Durham Research Center atrium.
On Friday, May 20, Subhash Pandey, Ph.D., will present an 8:30 a.m. seminar titled “Epigenetic basis of anxiety and alcohol use disorders,” in the Omaha VA Hospital Education Conference Room.
“This is a great way to highlight the ongoing productive collaborations between VA and its academic affiliates,” said John S. Davis, Ph.D., VA senior research career scientist and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UNMC. “Omaha VA researchers have affiliations with UNMC and Creighton University and active partnerships with the University of Nebraska at Omaha and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”
VA investigators played key roles in developing devices and techniques that revolutionized health care — including the cardiac pacemaker, the CAT scan, shingles vaccine, liver and kidney transplants, and much more.
Among the research at the Omaha VA Medical Center is translational research on mental health including:
- post-traumatic stress, substance abuse and alcohol research;
- liver disease;
- endocrinology, diabetes and obesity research;
- airway inflammation research including COPD, infectious diseases, and bronchitis;
- bone-loss research including rheumatology, arthritis, and immunology research;
- aging research;
- women’s health research;
- cancer research;
- vascular diseases and gait research;
- quality of care and patient safety research.