Ohio State CBI affiliate, Ginger Yang, PhD, and her team have been awarded a $3 million R01 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Translational Research for Injury Prevention Laboratory (UAB) to further understand the effects of mild traumatic brain injuries on teen driving. The project funding was awarded to Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) and will be conducted at Ohio State's Driving Simulation Lab and counterparts at UAB – further illustrating how indispensable interdisciplinary research expertise is when trying to conquer the chronic challenges of TBI.

Mild traumatic brain injuries in young adults often occur from vehicle crashes or sports-related injuries, and cognitive symptoms like headache, dizziness, delayed reaction times, and confusion can potentially result in a significantly decreased driving ability – making the timely development of safety guidelines paramount. This collaborative grant will help Dr. Yang, UAB developmental psychologist Despina Stavrinos, PhD, and others at Ohio State, NCH, and UAB to gain insight into the critical challenges adolescents may face following brain injury.

This newly-funded study is based on a 2017 CBI Pilot Award and serves as an example of the interdisciplinary and impactful brain injury research that Ohio State CBI's Pilot Awards Program aims to support.