Lost opportunity: With wars winding down, VA’s brain research failed to launch

On the morning of July 1, 2008, Department of Veterans Affairs officials gathered to unveil a state-of-the-art brain scanner they predicted would help revolutionize the understanding of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans.

The timing, and location, seemed perfect. One of the first studies would scan nearby Fort Hood soldiers before and after they deployed to war in Iraq or Afghanistan — a unique opportunity to study physical changes in soldiers’ brains due to combat.

Six years later, the $3.6 million machine sits unused in an out-of-the way corner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center in Temple.

Not a single study based on the machine’s scans has been published.

Not a single veteran has received improved treatment because of advances ushered in by the scanner.

Read more: http://projects.statesman.com/news/va-center-of-excellence/ (Austin American-Statesman)

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.