Office of Medical Communications

Kalev Freeman, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine and pharmacology and director of the Larner College of Medicine’s Trauma Physiology Lab

(OCTOBER 9, 2023) Kalev Freeman, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine and pharmacology and director of the Larner College of Medicine’s Trauma Physiology Lab, is part of a research team working on a new $12.1 million trauma research program funded by the National Institute of Health/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI), the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Inside Life Changing Medicine reports.

Led by Matthew Neal, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the new grant will, in part, fund a project titled “Endothelial Dysfunction and Restoration in Trauma Induced Coagulopathy” that will explore how plasma transfusions can help restore the health of the endothelium and test innovative therapies aimed at improving the outcome of trauma patients. It will also help researchers better understand the role of the endothelium in regulating the body’s response to trauma-related blood clotting.

“When we suffer from injuries, blood clotting prevents excessive bleeding,” Dr. Freeman explains. “Surprisingly, trauma patients often lose the ability to make their blood clot. Our team has worked to unravel the mystery behind these clotting problems. We discovered that injury to the endothelium … is a key mechanism. We are using this information to develop treatments that will help trauma patients survive and recover.”