The Department of Neurology is proud to announce that Dr. Julia M. Carlson, Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurocritical Care, has been awarded a UNC Junior Faculty Development Award to advance her research on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its neuropsychiatric outcomes.
Dr. Carlson’s project, “Multidimensional Evaluation of Adverse Post-Traumatic Neuropsychiatric Sequelae in TBI,” will focus on understanding how patients develop symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and post-traumatic stress following mild to moderate TBI. Working under the mentorship of Dr. Sam McLean, Director of the UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery, Dr. Carlson will recruit patients admitted to UNC Medical Center with TBI and follow them for six months. Through serial assessments and blood-based biomarker analysis, her team aims to identify risk factors—including pre-trauma characteristics, peritraumatic stress responses, and injury severity—that influence recovery trajectories.
This innovative study will not only evaluate the feasibility of long-term follow-up in this population but also generate critical preliminary data to inform future interventions and career development awards. By integrating clinical assessments with biomarkers such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), Dr. Carlson’s work seeks to shed light on the interplay between mechanical brain injury and stress-related neurobiological mechanisms.
Congratulations to Dr. Carlson on this well-deserved recognition! Her research promises to improve care and outcomes for patients with TBI and strengthen UNC’s leadership in trauma recovery science.