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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As 2023 comes to a close, I reflect on the year’s successes and look ahead at exciting changes on the horizon. I am so proud of all that our team and partners have accomplished this year.
This was a seminal year for our biomarker discovery efforts in PTSD. We explored the role of inflammatory proteins in the blood, electrical signals from circuits in the brain, and the genetic expression patterns in individuals with PTSD. We also started to build our first ‘multi-modal’ AI model based on all these analyses.
We partnered with Cohen Veterans Network to analyze clinical data and generate algorithms that can predict treatment outcomes in real-world patients.
We launched our ‘trial in a box’ decentralized digital health platform to conduct our own sleep study using wearable devices and sensors that participants can use from home. The 40Winks study is a critical part of our goal to fast-track the development of user-friendly, cost-effective, and reliable diagnostics and treatments for insomnia.
This year, we’re proud to have launched the TBI Action Alliance, uniting the TBI research community, policymakers, and people with lived experience around a precision research roadmap. We hosted our first Membership Forum and presented the Alliance Action Plan to our growing membership.
In an ever-challenging world - our work is more important now than ever.
Over the past 10 years we have grown our organization to meet the commitment to advance brain health for our Veterans and all citizens. I am pleased to announce that I will be stepping aside to bring fresh new leadership to the organization; effective January 1st, Peter Hoehn will serve as CEO and Nicole Harmon as President. I will continue to serve as Chair of the CVB Board of Directors, and as founder, I will continue to be deeply involved in the evolution of the organization. I look forward to focusing my attention on CVB’s guiding principle: advancing the science.
Strength and Honor,
Magali Haas, MD, PhD
Founder
Cohen Veterans Bioscience
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Cohen Veterans Bioscience Announces Executive Leadership Changes
Magali Haas, MD, PhD, Founder, CEO & President will step down after 12 Years at CVB Helm and assume new Strategic Role; Peter Hoehn, JD, Appointed CEO, Nicole Harmon, PhD, to Assume Role of President
Cohen Veterans Bioscience (CVB) announces long-planned executive changes to the organization. Magali Haas, MD, PhD, Founder, CEO & President will be transitioning into new International Strategic leadership roles as well as serving as Senior Advisor to the new CEO. Peter Hoehn, JD, Executive Vice President, Marketing Strategy, Development, and Impact is appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Nicole Harmon, PhD, Chief Operating Officer, is designated President. New roles take effect as of January 1, 2024.
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Cohen Veterans Bioscience Announces New Board Member to Support Continued Growth
Brain Trauma Research Leader Announces Frank Larkin Appointment to Board of Directors
Cohen Veterans Bioscience announces the appointment of Frank Larkin to the Board of Directors, in the role of Vice Chair, effective January 1, 2024.
“We are pleased to welcome Frank Larkin to the CVB Board,” said Board Chair, Magali Haas, MD, PhD. “Frank’s former and continued service to our Veteran’s Advisory Council coupled with his dedicated professionalism and deeply personal experience will bring insights and passion to further advance CVB’s mission.”
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Donate Today
Veterans, first responders, and all people suffering from the effects of brain trauma urgently need our help.
Every dollar helps fast-track our research to advance solutions for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Triple Your Impact! Every $1 you donate will be matched by $2.
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TBI Action Alliance Membership Forum
November 9, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Last month, we hosted the inaugural TBI Action Alliance Membership Forum, which brought together a passionate community to expedite accurate diagnosis and treatments for those suffering from traumatic brain injury.
The agenda was full of exciting presentations that discussed the TBI Action Alliance’s plan to address the TBI public health crisis. Magali Haas, Founder, CEO and President, Cohen Veterans Bioscience, highlighted that this must be a community effort and that it’s not something one organization can do alone. Rachel Ramoni, Chief Research and Development Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, presented a historical perspective and the role of the VA in the path ahead. Margaret Harrell, Ph.D., Chief Program Officer, Bob Woodruff Foundation, discussed the ethical use of a TBI registry. One of the world’s top experts in treating concussions, James P. Kelly, Executive Director, Marcus Institute for Brain Health, shared the patient experience with TBI. Ragini Verma, Head of Clinical & Biomarker Programs, Cohen Veterans Bioscience, shared the science behind the CVB biomarker discovery engine. Peter Hoehn, Executive Vice President, Cohen Veterans Bioscience, shared the TBI Action Alliance Diagnostics accelerator framework, a collaborative effort to develop new diagnostics for TBI.
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About BRAINCommons
The BRAINCommons empowers the global research community by providing access to multi-model data, state-of-the-art tools and a secure interoperable system for data sharing.
We are entering a new era in brain research, driven by powerful data acquisition technologies generating multi-modal data at all spatial scales, coupled with a dramatic evolution in the cost of computing. To meet the challenges associated with brain health research, a paradigm shift is required that adapts our existing data analysis toolsets and data management processes to integrate massively multi-dimensional data to facilitate holistic modeling of the brain and its organization.
The BRAINCommons represents a next-generation digital ecosystem that is uniquely able to meet today’s data analysis challenges facing brain researchers.
In order to maintain brain health, we must gain a profoundly deeper understanding of the brain’s trajectory through its lifespan, including the perturbations that represent disorder, disease and dysfunction as well as resiliency. The BRAINCommons’ innovative integration of Data, Tools and Community will make this possible.
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Publication: Improving Translational Relevance in Preclinical Psychopharmacology (iTRIPP)
Mark Zervas, PhD, our Head of Discovery & Preclinical Research, is proud of our collaboration with an international team of researchers on a new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, titled "Improving Translational Relevance in Preclinical Psychopharmacology (iTRIPP)".
The study outlines 10 key considerations for the planning and reporting of behavioral studies in animal models relevant to psychiatric disorders. Learn how these guidelines are important to both the scientific community and patients.
View Publication
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Publication: Caring for Dementia Caregivers: Understanding Caregiver Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Every year, more than 16 million Americans provide more than 17 billion hours of unpaid care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. We're proud to contribute to this important research that studied the stress levels and impact on caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It demonstrates the urgent need for public policy initiatives and public health infrastructure to support dedicated caregivers.
View Publication
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Monitoring and Measuring Sleep
Through CVB's digital health subsidiary, Early Signal, we’re building a convenient at-home clinical trial platform to measure changes in aspects of brain health in real time. The platform aims to lower the barriers to entry of public participation in scientific research and is designed to streamline the way individuals, researchers, and doctors come together to monitor their health through new digital tools and solutions.
40 Winks is a feasibility study that will evaluate how people interact with this new platform. It involves people using their iPhones and other wearable and home sensor devices to measure aspects of sleep independently and passively in their homes. This is a departure from historical sleep studies in which people are asked to go to a sleep lab, sleep with many different wires and electrodes attached to them, and sleep in an environment that doesn’t mimic their home where they have their sleep problems.
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CVB Advocates for Rigorous Approach to Research of Psychedelic Compounds for the Treatment of Brain Disorders
Many Americans suffer from brain disorders where existing treatment options are limited and often inadequate. The increase in study of psychedelic and related compounds for multiple brain disorders has the potential to add a new class of drug to the existing treatment options. There are studies in the advanced stages of the clinical trial process (Phase III) investigating the use of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psilocybin to treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and ketamine (a version of which is already approved for TRD) to treat alcohol use disorder. There are also studies in earlier stages of clinical research investigating these and other psychedelic compounds for a number of other conditions such as eating disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Veterans seeking relief for the long-term effects of these conditions have shown high interest in participating in research critical to determining the potential efficacy of psychedelic compounds. As we still do not fully understand the safety and efficacy of these compounds, we need rigorous research to determine whether and how these compounds can be integrated into clinical care. These studies also need to determine how they work in the brain, in which people they work and why, and finally, which compounds are best suited for which conditions.
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- ECNP Congress
At the 36th European College of Neuropyschopharmacology Congress on October 7-10, 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, the 2023 Best Negative Data Prize in Clinical Neuroscience was awarded to Boushra Dalile et al. for their paper "Extruded Wheat Bran Consumption Increases Serum Short-Chain Fatty Acids but Does Not Modulate Psychobiological Functions in Healthy Men: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial." Learn more about the winning paper here.
- 3rd Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry: Innovation to Implementation
CVB's CEO and President Magali Haas, MD, PhD participated in a panel discussion at the 3rd Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry, hosted by the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Precision Psychiatry on September 29-30, 2023.
- World Health Summit 2023
On October 16, 2023, CVB's CEO and President Magali Haas, MD, PhD participated in a panel discussion on Global Health AI and Robotics at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany. The session replay video can be viewed on YouTube Live. The session highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing healthcare through improved diagnosis, treatment, and efficiency while emphasizing the importance of ensuring ethical AI practices.
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From the Frontlines of Awareness
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“We are proud of our products but even prouder of our mission and partnership with Cohens Veterans Bioscience. They are making huge strides in the advancement of brain research and brain-related trauma. We know this research plays such an integral role in suicide awareness and prevention, so no family suffers this same kind of loss.”
The Guyton Family
Country Road Clothing Co.
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Country Road Clothing Co. Supports CVB
To bring awareness to the incidence and epidemic of suicide, the County Road Clothing Co. (CRCC) of Bartonville, Texas will donate portions of every item purchased toward our brain trauma research. Shop their outdoor and everyday apparel online to help advance research and improve lives.
Thank you County Road Clothing Co. for your support.
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RockN4Ryan Fundraising Fishing Competition Raises Funds for TBI Research
This annual fishing competition, held this year on October 19th, is in honor of Ryan Larkin, a decorated Navy SEAL who served four tours of duty during more than a decade of service. During his deployments, Larkin saw heavy combat that required breaching through walls and doors with powerful explosions. Despite seeking help from the medical community, his condition went without an accurate diagnosis. In 2017, Larkin ended his own life.
RockN’Ryan was created to help advance research of TBI and its link to Veteran suicide. The event also served as a platform for participants to discuss the challenges Veterans with brain injuries face.
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22 Jumps at New River Gorge, West Virginia
 BASE jumpers and Veterans Tristan Wimmer, Dusty Gebhardt, Adam Krum, Brent Lake, Eric Johnson, Dusty Hanks, Drew Thomas, and David Whiteman BASE jumped on October 21st to raise awareness of Veteran suicide and funds for traumatic brain injury research.
Funds raised are part of the Kiernan Wimmer Fund to support the TBI Action Alliance of which 22 Jumps is a Founding Sponsor. The TBI Action Alliance is a new Community Coordination model to accelerate a first generation of diagnostics and treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury.
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Share Your Story: Join the TBI Trailblazers Volunteer Network
 There are 5.3 million Americans living with the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI). That’s why we created the TBI Trailblazers Volunteer Network, a community of Veteran and civilian volunteers who have suffered a TBI or lost a loved one due to brain trauma and want to share their story.
How has TBI impacted you or the lives of your loved ones?
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Start a Fundraiser
Veterans, first responders, and all people suffering from the effects of brain trauma urgently need our help.
Every dollar helps fast-track our research to advance solutions for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Triple Your Impact! Every $1 you donate will be matched by $2.
Get Started in 3 Easy Steps:
- Visit https://support.cohenveteransbioscience.org/fundraise, click Start Fundraising and create your account.
- Personalize your fundraiser. Add a title and description that explains why you're fundraising for CVB. Then set your fundraising goal and upload a banner image.
- Make a donation: being the first to donate helps encourage others to donate. Share your fundraiser with family, friends, and on social media!
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