Overview
UT Southwestern Medical Center has led Gulf War illness research for over three decades, culminating in a November 2025 breakthrough study published in Scientific Reports that identifies mitochondrial dysfunction as the underlying cause of GWI symptoms.
Leadership and Affiliations
Dr. Robert Haley, M.D.
- Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
- Professor in the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at UT Southwestern
- Distinguished Teaching Professor
- Holds the U.S. Armed Forces Veterans Distinguished Chair for Medical Research, Honoring Robert Haley, M.D., and America's Gulf War Veterans
- Study leader on the 2025 mitochondrial dysfunction research
Dr. Sergey Cheshkov, Ph.D.
- Former Assistant Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern
- Current Research Scientist/Physicist in the Sammons BrainHealth Imaging Center at The University of Texas at Dallas
- Co-led the 2025 study
Dr. Richard W. Briggs, Ph.D.
- Retired Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern
- Co-led the 2025 study
Research Facilities and Departments
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine — Primary research home for Dr. Haley's GWI program
- Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health — Additional academic affiliation
- Radiology Department — Provided MRS expertise and equipment
- Sammons BrainHealth Imaging Center at The University of Texas at Dallas — Current location for Dr. Cheshkov's research
Funding Sources
The 2025 study was funded by:
- IDIQ contract VA549-P-0027 (Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center)
- U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (DAMD17-01-1-0741)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Gulf War Illness Research Program (W81XWH-16-1-0740)
- North and Central Texas Clinical and Translational Science Initiative (UL1RR024982) — NIH Roadmap for Medical Research
Key Publications
1997: First MRS Study
Established the NAA/tCr ratio difference between GWI veterans and controls, though technology limitations prevented determining whether this was due to decreased NAA or increased tCr.November 2025: Scientific Reports Publication
Advanced MRS techniques definitively identified increased tCr as the cause of lower NAA/tCr ratios in GWI veterans, linking mitochondrial dysfunction to chronic neuroinflammation and explaining nearly all documented symptoms.Current Research Focus (2025)
Dr. Haley and colleagues are studying how low-level sarin gas exposure causes mitochondrial dysfunction — a critical step toward developing treatments that calm the resulting chronic neuroinflammation.
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