VA HSR&D researcher, Kathryn Magruder, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Dr. Magruder is a core investigator with the HSR&D's Center for Disease Prevention and Health Interventions for Diverse Populations in Charleston, SC. Her career focus has been on studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military Veterans, and she will enhance this work as a Fulbright scholar in Ankara, Turkey.
Dr. Magruder will spend the next nine months in Ankara observing PTSD symptoms in civilians (such as Iraqi citizens from the Mosul area), who have been temporarily removed from their stressful environments. Dr. Magruder will work from the Psychiatry Department at the Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara, where she will conduct lectures and seminars about past and ongoing VA research, and continue several studies currently underway, including "A Twin Study of The Course and Consequences of PTSD in Vietnam Era Veterans," and "Long-Term Health Outcomes of Women's Service during the Vietnam Era." Dr. Magruder also is conducting research to compare web-based vs. in-person methods of training mental health providers in suicide prevention.