Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2009

Mentor: Robert W. Haley, M.D.
Department: Internal Medicine
Room number: E5.730
Mail Code: 8874
Phone number: 83075
E-mail: Robert.Haley@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Gulf War Illness Research Program /

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 022007-024

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): NA

Project Type: patient-based research

Brief Description of Project:

As part of the large Gulf War syndrome research program, a national survey is being conducted in a population-representative sample of veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. As part of the survey, blood samples are being collected from approximately 2000 ill and well veterans for storage of serum, plasma, DNA and RNA. These will be analyzed to identify genes and other traits that predisposed to brain injury from environmental exposure to toxic chemicals including pesticides and nerve gas.

The summer project will allow a medical student to serve as a laboratory assistant in two laboratories involved in collecting and analyzing the serum and DNA from the blood collected in the national survey. The student will in the blood collection laboratory receiving and logging in blood samples, assisting the technicians in preparing the samples for processing, entering The Blood and DNA Tubes into the FreezerWorks computer inventory package, and storing the racks of our quad id serum and DNA samples in the freezers. Additional time will be spent observing and assisting in the Teiber Laboratory where the real time PCR genotyping and enzyme activity assays are performed. These experiences will give the student first hand experience at the bench level in how two different types of laboratories operate in a large multidisciplinary research program.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students (bolded):

1. Werlinger KD, Guevara IL, Gonzales CM, Rincon ET, Caitano R, Haley RW, Pandya AG. Prevalence of self-diagnosed melasma among premenopausal Latino women in Dallas and Fort Worth, Tex. Archives of Dermatology 2007; 143: 424-425.

2. Westover AN, McBride S, Haley RW. Stroke in young adults who abuse amphetamines or cocaine: a population-based study of hospitalized patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 2007; 64:495-502.

3. Westover AN, Nakonezny PA, Haley RW. Acute myocardial infarction in young adults who abuse amphetamines. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 2008; 96:49-56.

4. Hess PL, Reingold JS, Jones J, Fellman MA, Knowles P, Ravenell JE, Kim S, Okoro, C, Ogunji R, Knowles P, Leonard D, Wilson RP, Haley RW, Ferdinand KC, Freeman A, Victor RG. Barbershops as hypertension detection, referral, and follow-up centers for African-American men. Hypertension 2007; 2007; 49: 1040-1046.

5. Victor RG, Leonard D, Hess P, Bhat DG, Jones J, Vaeth PAC, Ravenell J, Freeman A, Wilson RP, Haley RW. Factors associated with Hypertension Awareness, Treatment, and Control in Dallas County, Texas. Archives of Internal Medicine 2008; 168: 1285-1293.

6. Hess PL, Reingold JS, Jones J, Fellman MA, Knowles P, Ravenell JE, Kim S, Okoro, C, Ogunji R, Knowles P, Leonard D, Wilson RP, Haley RW, Ferdinand KC, Freeman A, Victor RG. Barbershops as hypertension detection, referral, and follow-up centers for African-American men. Hypertension 2007; 49: 1040-1046.

7. Wuu A, Haley RW, Pandya AG. Validation of a questionnaire for self-reporting of disorders of hyperpigmentation in Chinese individuals. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2009; 145: 202-203.

8. Nettune GR, Fitzwater J, Haley RW, Edwards AO. Portective effect of statin use in the progression of dry to exudative age-related macular degeneration. (unpublished manuscript).