Dr. David X. Cifu, M.D.
LIMBIC-CENC Project Director & Principal Investigator

David Cifu, MD is an academic leader and innovator who specializes in initiating, developing, fostering and leading small and large-scale innovations across the research, clinical, education and philanthropic arenas to create knowledge, add value and build opportunities. He is the Associate Dean for Innovation and System Integration in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine, and the Chairman and Herman J. Flax, MD Endowed Professor (tenured) of the Department of PM&R at VCU-School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia. He is also Chief of PM&R Services for the VCU Health System and Founding Director of the VCU-Center for Rehabilitation Sciences and Engineering (CERSE). He is the Senior TBI Specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He has been funded on 46 research grants for over $240 million, including currently serving as Principal Investigator of the VA/DoD $112.2 million Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC) since 2013. In his more than 30 years as an academic physiatrist, he has delivered more than 560 regional, national and international lectures, published more than 225 scientific articles and 65 abstracts, and co-authored or edited 35 books and book chapters. He is the Past President of the American Academy of PM&R (2007-8), Editor-in-Chief of the 5th Edition of Braddom’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation textbook (2015), co-Editor of Braddom’s Handbook of Rehabilitation Medicine (2017), and Editor-in-Chief of the upcoming 6th Edition of Braddom’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation textbook (2020).

COL Dr. Sidney R. Hinds, M.D.
LIMBIC-CENC Co-Project Director & Principal Investigator

COL Hinds graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1988 and served as a Medical Service Corps Officer from 1988 until 1992. He received his M.D. from the University of Connecticut Health Center and was re-commissioned as an Army Captain in 1996. COL Hinds is a neurologist and nuclear medicine physician who is currently serving as the Brain Health Research Program Coordinator for the DoD Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office and as the Medical Advisor to the Principle Assistant for Research and Technology (PAR&T), Medical Research and Materiel Command, FT Detrick, MD.  He most recently served as the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center’s (DVBIC) fifth national director from July 1, 2013 to 16 March 2016.  In his current capacity, he serves to collaborate, advise and promote military relevant neurological and psychological medical and non-medical research efforts within the DoD and with external partners. The LIMBIC-CENC is one of his efforts to accomplish this mission. The creation of this consortium was in direct response to the National Research Action Plan (NRAP) of 2013.

Dr. Kristine Yaffe, M.D.
LIMBIC-CENC Co-Project Director & Principal Investigator

Dr. Kristine Yaffe attended Yale University for her undergraduate degree, received her M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed residencies in Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is the Scola Endowed Chair and Vice Chair and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Epidemiology at UCSF, and the Chief of NeuroPsychiatry and Director of the Memory Evaluation Clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.  In her research, clinical work, and mentoring, she has directed her efforts towards improving the care of patients with cognitive disorders and other geriatric neuropsychiatric conditions. As the principal investigator of multiple grants from the NIH, DoD, and several foundations, she is a leading expert in the modifiable risk factors of dementia, and she has published over 440 peer-reviewed articles in numerous prestigious journals including the Lancet, BMJ, JAMA, and NEJM. Dr. Yaffe served as the Co-Chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Cognitive Aging which released a report in 2015 entitled, “Cognitive Aging: Progress in Understanding and Opportunities for Action”.  She is also a member of the Council of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Alzheimer’s Association Medical & Scientific Advisory Council.  Dr. Yaffe has been recognized by Thomas Reuters as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds and has received several awards for her scholarly work, including the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Distinguished Scientist Award and the 2017 Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology.