Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

Kalev Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of emergency medicine and pharmacology

(APRIL 10, 2024) Kalev Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of emergency medicine and pharmacology, discussed traumatic brain injury, or TBI, in a WCAX-TV interview.

“Trauma is actually the most common cause of death and disability and young people—young being under age 44—and TBI among types of traumas is the biggest problem,” said Freeman, whose Trauma Physiology Laboratory works to understand responses of small blood vessels to injury and how these control points can be successfully targeted to optimize tissue repair, with the overall goal of improving outcomes for trauma patients.

Freeman is among researchers looking into how to diagnose and treat TBIs faster and better. “We’ve learned that by giving patients fresh plasma after a brain injury, we can restore their blood vessel function,” he said. The UVM lab also developed a new type of blood screening that can determine if there’s a TBI as soon as the injury happens. “Having a diagnostic test to prove a head injury could actually help the patients obtain access to additional care or insurance or disability coverage—but also in the emergency setting, can help us identify quickly which patients are at the highest risk.”