BLR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application

在美国，中风是导致残疾的头号原因。这是身体损伤的结果，以及 中风后患痴呆症的风险增加。高血压是中风的首要危险因素，其次是 糖尿病。高血压、糖尿病和中风在我们的退伍军人中非常普遍。高血压是最重要的 中风退伍军人中最常见的血管危险因素。此外，在退伍军人中，高血压是 最常见的慢性疾病，影响了37%以上的退伍军人。25%的退伍军人 得了糖尿病。尽管多年来进行了广泛的研究，但所有保护神经元免受缺血性中风损伤的努力 失败了。中风的治疗方法只有一种，那就是用溶栓法打开闭塞的血管。 毒品。中风后出现的痴呆症没有治疗方法。导致这一失败的原因可能有几个 折叠：1)研究人员在研究中使用了其他健康和年轻的动物模型；2)大多数研究 利用雄性动物；3)研究人员试图仅抢救和修复“神经元”。现在越来越多的人 认识到脑血管对急性卒中损伤和慢性脑损伤极为重要 恢复。当流向大脑的血液受到损害时，认知障碍就会随之而来，中风就会恢复。 是受损的。新治疗的目标可能在女性和/或糖尿病和高血压等疾病中有所不同 通常在中风或认知障碍患者中发现的血压。这也是相当的 与退伍军人使命相关，因为我们的女性退伍军人在退伍军人中稳步增加，并遭受 这些疾病促使退伍军人事务部发起“妇女健康倡议”。厄格尔博士，一位学识渊博的 弗吉尼亚州研究职业科学家和奥古斯塔大学的董事教授，使用她独特的组合 在内分泌学、生理学、药理学和血管生物学方面的专业知识，通过研究来填补这些差距 糖尿病和高血压与中风和认知等相关并发症的相互作用 两种性别都有损害。她非常致力于改善我们退伍军人和我们的 社会，这一承诺在过去5年里得到了研究职业科学家的认可。她的承诺 对退伍军人事务部和心血管疾病的研究被1)国家大学不断的校外发现所证明 卫生研究院、美国心脏协会、美国糖尿病协会和退伍军人事务部 最近20年，2)她发表了150多篇出版物(仅在过去5年的RCS任期内就发表了59篇)，3) 在当前RCS获奖期内成功续签两次VA优异奖，4)获得额外 解决互补科学问题的外部资金，5)她作为该领域领导者的地位和6) 她成功地指导了下一代科学家。

Stroke is the number one cause of disability in the US. This is a result of physical impairments as well as increased risk of dementia after stroke. High blood pressure is the top risk factor for stroke followed by diabetes. High blood pressure, diabetes and stroke are highly prevalent in our Veterans. Hypertension is the most common vascular risk factor among Veterans with stroke. Moreover, among Veterans, hypertension is the most common chronic condition, affecting more than 37% of the Veteran population. 25% of our Veterans have diabetes. Despite years of extensive research, all efforts to protect neurons from ischemic stroke injury failed. There is only one treatment for stroke and that is to open the occluded blood vessels with a clot-busting drug. There is NO treatment for dementia that develops after stroke. Reasons for this failure may be several fold: 1) researchers have used otherwise healthy and young animal models in research; 2) most studies utilized male animals; and 3) researchers have tried to salvage and repair only "neurons". It is now increasingly recognized that blood vessels of the brain are extremely critical for the acute stroke injury and chronic recovery. When blood flow to the brain is compromised, cognitive impairment ensues and recovery from stroke is impaired. Targets for new treatments may be different in females and/or diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure that are commonly found in patients with stroke or cognitive impairment. This is also quite relevant to VA mission as our female Veterans are steadily increasing among our Veterans and suffering from these diseases necessitating the VA to launch the “Women’s Health Initiative”. Dr. Ergul, a well-accomplished VA Research Career Scientist and Regents’ Professor at Augusta University, uses her uniquely combined expertise in endocrinology, physiology, pharmacology and vascular biology to address these gaps by studying the interaction of diabetes and high blood pressure with associated complications such as stroke and cognitive impairment in both sexes. She is extremely committed to improve the quality of life of our Veterans and our society, a commitment solidified by Research Career Scientist recognition in the last 5 years. Her commitment to VA and cardiovascular disease research is evidenced by 1) continuous extramural finding by National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and Veterans Affairs in the last 20 years, 2) her over 150 publications (59 alone during the tenure of the RCS in the last 5 years), 3) success of renewing VA Merit Award twice during the current RCS award period, 4) receiving additional extramural funding to address complementary scientific questions, 5) her stature as a leader in the field and 6) the success of her mentoring next generation of scientists.