Sandor G. Vari

Director, International Research, and Innovation in Medicine Program
Cedars – Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA;
e-mail: vari@cshs.org

I built research capacity and networks for the first ten years in the RECOOP Research Consortium from 2002 to 2012. The RECOOP HST Consortium, with the financial support of Cedars–Sinai Medical Center­ (CSMC), applied for the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) grants. We applied for 20 Standard Grants and won 14 Standard Grants to support forming and managing research networks and multinational–multidisciplinary research projects. The IVF grants won by CSMC – RECOOP helped move toward the 21^st Century and broaden the scope of activities in RECOOP. Also, the IVF grants helped to build support networks for biosafety and biosecurity, animal use in research, clinical research management, and research and Innovation management training. RECOOP HST Association implemented the Common Mechanism of Diseases (CMD) research program for innovative life science research in member countries. The objectives were to increase the number of young scientists participating in creative research. Knowledge sharing is the most essential element of collaborative research. Within the context of RECOOP, my final endeavor will focus on investigating the diagnosis and management of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Ukraine. As of January 2024, an estimated 6.3 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine, with 94 percent of them hosted in European countries, representing 5.9 million refugees. In Ukraine, an estimated 7.8 million people need health assistance, and 11.5 million need protection assistance and services. Studies of PTSD report volume abnormalities in multiple regions of the cerebral cortex. However, findings for many regions, particularly regions outside commonly studied emotion-related prefrontal, insular, and limbic regions, are inconsistent and tentative. We, as researchers, must continually share our research findings and diligently replicate established methods and protocols. These tasks can often feel akin to the labor of Sisyphus. Moreover, within the scientific community, integrity is paramount; dishonesty is swiftly met with consequences akin to the justice administered by Zeus. Therefore, we researchers must roll a boulder up a hill again and again, and after we have proved that the published scientific work is sound, the “boulder” and the scientist will stay on top of the hill.

Keywords: burden of Sisyphus, define research stra­tegy, funding opportunities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Ukraine, RECOOP HST Association, research capacity building and networks, sciences and arts