Briefs: Drossman appointed to IOM study committee on Gulf War, health effects
Dr. Douglas A. Drossman, professor of medicine and psychiatry within UNC's School of Medicine, has been appointed to an Institute of Medicine committee studying long-term adverse health issues among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Aug. 4, 2005
Briefs: Drossman appointed to IOM study committee on Gulf War, health effects
Dr. Douglas A. Drossman, professor of medicine and psychiatry within UNC's School of Medicine, has been appointed to an Institute of Medicine committee studying long-term adverse health issues among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Drossman also co-directs the UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders, within the School of Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
The two-year study is a comprehensive review, evaluation and summary of the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature on the association between stress and long-term adverse health effects in veterans. Combat stress is the mental, emotional or physical tension, strain or distress associated with exposure to combat or combat-related conditions.
“Stress-related gastrointestinal disorders are already very prevalent in the general population, impairing work performance and attendance and overall quality of life,” said Drossman. “It is important to understand the prevalence and consequences of functional GI disorders in the unusually high-stress environment of war and conflict, both in the short term during deployment and in the long term upon returning home.”
Drossman has published more than 350 books, articles and abstracts relating to epidemiology, psychosocial and quality-of-life assessment, design of treatment trials and outcomes of research in GI disorders. One of his principal areas of research is on understanding the effects of psychosocial trauma, including abuse, on clinical outcomes in gastrointestinal disorders.
He recently was appointed as an ad hoc member of the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine grants advisory board responsible for final review and decisions regarding awards for NIH grants submitted in the area of complementary and alternative medicine.
News Services contacts: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu; L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu
