MIRECC / CoE

By Dr. Mark Kunik , SC MIRECC Director

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Lilian Dindo to her new role as SC MIRECC Houston Site Leader. In this role, Dr. Dindo will serve as primary liaison between SC MIRECC Leadership and Houston SC MIRECC-affiliated investigators.

Dr. Dindo is a clinical psychologist who joined the SC MIRECC in 2014 as a Research Health Scientist. Her research interests include developing pragmatic and innovative ways to improve mental health and functioning for patients suffering from psychiatric and chronic medical conditions, developing one-day interventions for mental health, functioning, and quality of life for Veterans and non-Veterans who have chronic medical conditions and are experiencing significant distress, and examining the use of technology to assess various psychiatric measures and deliver treatments. Her study populations include Veterans with pain, mild traumatic brain injury, and distress; Veterans undergoing orthopedic surgery and are at-risk for developing chronic pain; Veteran and non-Veteran patients with migraine pain and depression; and Veterans with inflammatory bowel disease and significant distress.

One of her primary responsibilities will be to coordinate submission of SC MIRECC Pilot proposals. Interested investigators should contact Dr. Dindo (Lilian.Dindo@va.gov; Lilian.Dindo@bcm.edu) to discuss potential pilot project ideas at least one month ahead of a planned submission. She will provide oversight and obtain any preliminary feedback from SC MIRECC leadership, with the goal of helping investigators prepare proposals that will compete successfully for up to $55,000 of funding.

As Houston Site Leader, Dr. Dindo also will facilitate investigator use of other MIRECC resources, including MIRECC Implementation, Design, and Analysis Support (MIDAS) and participation of young investigators in the biennial Grant Writing Scholars program. Additionally, she will coordinate, in collaboration with Dr. Jeff Cully, the SC MIRECC-supported behavioral medicine/geropsychology research track of the Baylor College of Medicine psychology internship program and work with Dr. Natalie Hundt to provide supervision and mentorship for SC MIRECC Fellows.

We are very fortunate to have such a productive and enthusiastic scholar in this role! And many thanks to Dr. Melinda Stanley, whose work in this role has been critical to the success of the SC MIRECC through her mentoring of many fellows and junior faculty.