USF wins $1.57 million grant to study battlefield-related injuries

The University of South Florida's efforts to help veterans returning home from war has already drawn praise from First Lady Michelle Obama. On Tuesday, it got another boost — a $1.57 million grant from the Department of Defense to study traumatic brain injury and other battlefield-related injuries and diseases. Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, has become the signature injury of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Such injuries often damage parts of the brain that are critical to memory, attention and motor skills. The grant will help USF conduct studies, some in collaboration with the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, which may lead to more accurate diagnosis of TBI, as well as possible treatments for it.