Amy A. Herrold, Ph.D., a post-doctoral training program fellow with the VA Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care (CMC3), in Hines, Illinois, was recently awarded the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Switzer Merit Fellowship Award.
Dr. Herrold received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Loyola University Chicago in 2010. Her graduate work focused on the glutamate neurotransmitter system and its involvement with methamphetamine addiction and schizophrenia in rodent models of these co-morbid disorders. Within the CMC3, Dr. Herrold is pursuing research that assesses patient outcomes related to alcohol use and dependence among Veterans with co-occurring mild traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol use disorder.
The Switzer Award is a peer-reviewed, competitive award established to provide support to qualified individuals to engage in scientific research relating to the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. Merit Fellowships are awarded to individuals with less than seven years of research experience, but who have advanced professional training or experience in independent studies directly related to disability and rehabilitation. Dr. Herrold will use her Fellowship Award to examine repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation as a treatment for alcohol use disorder among people with co-occurring mild traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol use disorder.
The Switzer Research Fellowships Program honors Mary Elizabeth Switzer, an American public administrator and social reformer who contributed significantly to the 1954 Vocational Rehabilitation Act, which provided a great expansion of vocational rehabilitation service for people with disabilities.