September 19, 2025
HJF was selected for the second time to receive a charitable gift of $500,000 from retired Admiral William McRaven as part of his 2024 Bezos Courage and Civility Award. The award, which recognizes leaders who aim high and pursue solutions to intractable problems with courage and civility, was given to McRaven for his leadership in special operations as well as his dedication to educating the children of the fallen veterans’ mental health issues. In his donation to HJF, he specified that that the funds be used for research “towards understanding the effects of blast exposure.”
For this award, retired Admiral William McRaven chose one of the world’s leading experts on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in military personnel for this funding: Daniel Perl, M.D., FRSM. Dr. Perl is the Director of the Department of Defense/Uniformed Services University Brain Tissue Repository and Professor of Pathology (Neuropathology) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences where he has been conducting TBI research for 15 years. This new project, titled, “Unveiling Cellular Mechanisms of Blast-Induced TBI through Advanced Spatial Genomics,” will investigate “interface astroglial scarring,” a specific pattern of brain damage he first identified in blast-exposed service members.
The research will focus on how blast waves harm the brain’s vital support cells, called astrocytes, which the team believes is a root cause of many of the persistent neurological/behavioral symptoms associated with blast exposure. By identifying the expression of specific genes and genetic pathways that are altered by blast, this work will provide a direct roadmap for creating targeted therapies to help repair astrocytes and restore their vital functions. Ultimately, this research will lead to new therapeutic targets to mitigate long-term issues such as disordered sleep, vision and balance problems, and memory impairment, and it will guide the development of much-needed diagnostic tools to identify this hidden injury in living service members and veterans.
“We stand committed to reaching a better understanding of the biological nature of blast overpressure exposure on the human brain and, in particular, its long-term sequelae. We feel certain that with the knowledge gained through this research, better approaches to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of these life-altering consequences can be achieved,” said Dr. Perl. “My entire team of scientists, technicians, data analyzers, and outreach workers are so thankful for this remarkable recognition of our past work and especially the stimulus this will provide for our future studies.”