Active Research Program Conducted

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SHREVEPORT JOURNAL, SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, LA., THURSDAY, OCT. 30, 1975 D-5
Active Research Program Conducted
By ANN DEMENT
Journal Medical Writer
The Medical Research
Service at Shreveport's
Veterans Administration
Hospital shares the goals
of medical research ever-ywhere
— to cure or pre-vent
illness and to im-prove
the treatment and
care of the patient.
However, since the forma-tion
of an active research
program here 6 years
ago, the horizons have
become unlimited.
Dr. Betty Uzman, as-
Medical Research
Dr. Betty Uzman, associate chief of staff for re-search,
heads the VA's massive Medical Research
Service. The research budget has grown from
$87,000 in 1971 to $250,000 in 1976 with plans for in-creased
staff and equipment.
sociate chief of staff for
research, and former pro-fessor
of pathology at
Harvard Medical School,
heads the Medical
Research Service at the
VA.
According to Dr.
Uzman, the VA is
engaged in both clinical
and basic research pro-grams.
Clinical research
involves the voluntary
and informed participa-tion
of patients in advanc-ing
medical knowledge of
treatment and diagnostic
procedures.
BASIC RESEARCH in-volves
experimental ap-proaches
to further the
understanding of the
structure and function of
the body's cells and tis-sues
in health and in dis-ease.
One of the first major
research programs at the
VA was toxicological
studies of drugs such as
marijuana and alcohol in
collaboration with the
Pharmacology Depart-ment
at Louisiana State
University School of
Medicine in Shreveport.
At the present time,
clinical studies of the ef-fects
of medicines in
treating lung and heart
diseases and kidney and
bladder cancer, are being
conducted by LSU
medical school faculty,
who are also on the
medical and surgical
services of the VA
hospital.
R E S E A R C H
PROGRAMS in com-munication
and orienta-tion
of aging veteran pa-tients
have been conducted
by the Nursing Service
staff. The Laboratory
Service has conducted ex-tensive
__basic___ science
studies on the development
of the nervous system.
P h y s i c i a n s and
psychologists in the
Alcohol Treatment Unit
have studied patient at-titudes
toward others and
the personality charac-teristics
of patients in an
effort to accelerate and im-prove
treatment and long-range
prognosis.
Other research activities
include: the immune
response of patients treat-ed
in the Medical Service
for pulmonary tuberculosis
and lung cancer and long-range
survival; activators
of the blood clotting pro-cess
have been isolated
and the effects of inhibitors
tested by consultants from
t h e L S U M C - S
Biochemistry Depart-"
ment; hormonal induction
and control of animal
mammary cancer.
There are 25 research
p r o g r a m s actively
engaged by 40 physician
and PhD investigators at
the VA hospital. The re-search
budget has grown
from $87,000 in 1971 to
more than $250,000 in 1976.
Some of the unique and
appealing aspects of
medical research at
Shreveport's VA hospital
are: the intellectual ad-vantages
of affiliation
with the medical school;
excellent library,
biometry and computer
departments; the close
clinical contacts with the
Shreveport Medical Socie-ty
and physicians of
Shreveport; and the
larger horizons for carry-ing
out cooperative
studies with other VA
Hospitals.
WHEN THE LSU School
of Medicine moves to it's
new facility, medical re-search
will utilize a large
portion of the vacated
space at the VA Hospital.
Dr. Uzman said current
research programs will be
continued and several
other projects are planned
to begin as soon as space
is available. Planned re-search
programs include:
—changes in the brain
(brain's ability to make
protein with age)
—chemical metabolism
of the brain (determine
what causes side effects
by some drugs used in
treating mental disorders)
Dr. Uzman has received
a $42,428 grant from the
March of Dimes to re-search
nervous system
disorders.
Plans for the Medical
Research Service are to
invest approximately
$300,000 to secure addi-tional
staff, faculty and
equipment for the depart-ment.