Virginia Tech® home

Home

Insert your title here

 

Featured Story

Donato Rivas, Ph.D., and fellow paratroopers

Nov. 11, 2024

Former Army airborne medic jumped to biomedical research

The Army wanted Donato Rivas to drive a tank.

He wound up jumping out of planes instead. But Rivas’ time as a paratrooper and combat medic provided an unlikely spark for his future career as a scientist studying physiology, bioenergetics, and exercise medicine research.

Rivas recently joined the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC as a research associate professor. He aims to continue an investigation of muscle damage and healing that he began at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. As the Army strives to remain stronger with fewer troops, research that returns injured soldiers back to health and service sooner is vital. That research also could inform the treatment of other life-altering conditions.

Creating a healthier future. For everyone.

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers. The institute’s Virginia Tech scientists focus on diseases that are the leading causes of death and suffering in the United States, including brain disorders, heart disease, and cancer. Since its founding in 2010, the research institute has experienced unprecedented growth: doubling its enterprise and lab facilities in Roanoke, while also investing in brand-new laboratories on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C.

Loading player for https://video.vt.edu/media/Welcome+to+the+Fralin+Biomedical+Research+Institute/1_7bgzxc60...


VIDEOS
 


SEMINARS & EVENTS
 

Loading player for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gec4l80mnNk...

Giving to the Research Institute

Your generous support of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's rigorous biomedical research enterprise makes a difference for our faculty, students, and patients. Every donation helps accelerate the pace of new discoveries to help patients with cancer, neurological disorders, heart disease, and even rare genetic disorders. Private donations fast-track our progress.