Eleni H. Moschonas, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery and a trainee in the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research’s NIH-funded T32 program, has received a Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research Early Career Research Grant for her project, “Defining Menopause as a Biological Modifier of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Recovery.”
The project addresses an important and understudied question in women’s brain health whether the menopausal transition alters recovery after mild TBI. Dr. Moschonas will establish a translational preclinical model combining menopause-like ovarian follicle depletion with mild fluid percussion injury to examine endocrine, cognitive, sensory, affective, social, and physiological recovery. She will also use the NIH All of Us Research Program to evaluate whether menopausal timing and status identify a clinically vulnerable subgroup of midlife women with TBI. A therapeutic aim will test the effect of an FDA-approved selective estrogen receptor modulator, to improve recovery and preserve structural brain network integrity following menopausal mild TBI.
Dr. Moschonas will conduct the work under the mentorship of Shaun Carlson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Executive Director of the Safar Center. Her multidisciplinary team also includes Martina Anto-Ocrah, PhD, who will guide the clinical epidemiology and women’s health components; Yijen Wu, PhD, who will contribute expertise in advanced animal neuroimaging; and Patrick Kochanek, MD, who will provide senior scientific mentorship in TBI, translational interpretation, and future research development.
This award will support a new translational research platform at the intersection of TBI, reproductive aging, and women’s health, with the long-term goal of identifying women at increased risk for persistent symptoms and developing biologically informed treatments across the female lifespan. Congratulations to Dr. Moschonas for addressing this long overdue area of investigation in TBI research and thanks to the Chuck Noll Foundation for their important support.