We are currently recruiting volunteers who are interested in participating in a brain-spinal cord-muscle response training study that aims to better understand the changes that take place in the nervous system as a result of this type of training. After spinal cord injury, brain-to-muscle connections are often interrupted. Because these connections are important in movement control, when they are not working well, movements may be disturbed. Researchers have found that people can learn to strengthen these connections through training. Strengthening these connections may be able to improve movement control and recovery after injuries.

Research participants will be asked to stand, sit, and walk during the study sessions. Electrodes are placed on the skin over leg muscles for monitoring muscle activity. For examining brain-to-muscle connections, we use transcranial magnetic stimulation. The stimulation is applied over the head and will indirectly stimulate brain cells with little or no discomfort.

Participation in this study requires approximately three sessions per week for four months, followed by two to three sessions over another three months. Each session lasts approximately 1 hour. Participants will receive a mileage reimbursement.

This is a study to find out if a device that temporarily alters brain activity (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) might be used to change how people with anxiety or related concerns cope with emotional situations. The study is recruiting people who recently started treatment for anxiety or a related concern. The study involves 3 visits to MUSC. At the first visit, participants do interviews and surveys asking about anxiety and related concerns, and they also do tasks where they see and react to emotional pictures while their brain activation is measured. At the next two visits, participants receive rTMS that uses a magnet placed on top of the head to alter brain activity temporarily (for about an hour). After rTMS, participants do two tasks where they see and react to emotional situations while wearing sensors on their hand, arms, face, and head.

Each visit in this study is expected to last between 2 – 3 hours. This study is not a treatment study, but it could help improve treatment in the future. Participants in this study are paid for their time.

This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with recurrent or new head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Patients either have had a recurrence (the tumor has comeback) or a new head and neck cancer in a different area of the head and neck (second primary) which has been removed by surgery. The study drug used is called pembrolizumab. The purpose of this study is to see if adding pembrolizumab to radiation or if using pembrolizumab by itself after surgery compared to the usual approaches with chemotherapy and radiation will increase life expectancy. Participants can expect to be on this study for up to 12 months and then followed for 5 years.

This study is for patients who have advanced cancers, such as head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and others. This study is testing a new treatment for these types of cancer. The new test drug is called ficerafusp alfa. Pembrolizumab is an approved drug by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the diseases described in this study and will be used as approved. The type of cancer a patient has will determine whether he/she will get ficerafusp alfa alone or ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab. Participants will receive either ficerafusp alfa alone, ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab or ficerafusp alfa, depending on your cancer until the cancer gets worse, they experience bad side effects, or until they withdraw consent, or until the Investigator considers it is in his/her best interest to discontinue the study drug.

This study aims to improve access of Veterans with epilepsy living in rural areas to the most important diagnostic procedure for the care of patients with epilepsy: the routine electroencephalogram (EEG). We will test a new method for recording EEG which uses a novel dry electrode system headset that does not require an EEG technologist to operate. The headset integrates the EEG electrodes and amplifier into a compact system which is easily placed on the head. This approach could make it possible for a nurse or nurse assistant with minimal training to record an EEG in a rural community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) as part of an epilepsy telemedicine outreach program along with clinical interviews. We will compare performance of this dry electrode system to standard EEG when it is used by EEG technologists in three VA medical centers. This project has the potential to improve access of Veterans to the EEG procedure and decrease cost to the Veterans Health Care System.

Because head and neck cancer arises in cosmetically and functionally critical areas, head and neck cancer survivors suffer high rates of body image-related distress. Body image-related distress is a source of significant morbidity, contributing to stigmatization, social isolation, and worse quality of life. Unfortunately, effective therapies exist to manage body image-related distress among head and neck cancer survivors are lacking. We have developed a novel, scalable, tele-cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for head and neck cancer survivors with body image disturbance that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby minimizing psychosocial morbidity, improving quality of life, and developing new standards of clinical care.

This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the effectiveness of using a combination of pembrolizumab and olaparib when given before and after standard chemoradiation therapy in treating locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Pembrolizumab and olaparib are drugs that are approved for treatment of different cancers including lung, head and neck, breast and prostate cancer. However, FDA has not approved use of these two drugs together in treating head and neck cancer.

Treatment will be offered in three phases. In the induction phase, participants will receive a single infusion of pembrolizumab and will take olaparib tablets twice daily for total of 21 days. Participants will move to the chemoradiation phase, where they will receive radiation therapy and chemotherapy per routine standard care, for a total of 7 weeks. Chemoradiation therapy is done on a daily basis (excluding weekends), and chemotherapy therapy will involve a cisplatin infusion once weekly. At the conclusion of this phase, participants start the maintenance phase, which involves treatment with pembrolizumab and olaparib in cycles that are 42-days long. Treatment will include a single pembrolizumab infusion during each cycle and taking olaparib tablets twice daily during each cycle. Total number of cycles to be completed in the maintenance phase are 8 cycles. Participants can expect to be in this study for about 6.5 years.

This study is for men and women with HER2-positive salivary gland cancer (SGC) that has come back, spread outside of their salivary gland, or cannot be removed by surgery. This study is being done to find out if ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) extends the length of time without the cancer getting worse compared to the usual approach.

For patients with head and neck cancer, delays starting adjuvant radiation therapy are common, disproportionately burden racial minorities, and contribute to poor survival and racial disparities in mortality. However, effective therapies to improve the delivery of timely, equitable, guideline-adherent adjuvant radiation therapy are lacking. We have developed a navigation-based multilevel intervention to enhance care coordination, communication, and key cancer care delivery processes that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby improving survival, decreasing racial disparities in outcomes, and developing new standards of clinical care.

This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. The purpose of this research study is to determine if lower doses of radiation therapy are as effective as the standard higher doses. Participants will have tests and procedures that would be performed as part of regular care. Participants will be assigned to one of three study groups based on your risk for cancer recurrence. Depending on the group assigned, participants receive either standard dose of radiation therapy (RT), a moderately reduced dose of RT, or an extremely reduced dose of RT. During the RT treatment, participants will also receive chemotherapy. Chemotherapy will be given at the same dose used in routine care for everybody in the study. Participants will be in the study for up to 5 years.