Director of Clinical Operations and Boardmember,
Veterans on Deck 501c3
www.veteransondeck.org
Dr. Ron Acierno is a Professor in the College of Nursing and a Senior Clinical Research Scientist at the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, MUSC's Consortium VA partner. Finally, he is the Clinical Training Director and Board Member of the non-profit Veterans on Deck, an organization he founded that uses sailing to impart socialization, teambuilding and personal growth in veterans recovering from PTSD, substance use, and who have been victims of Military Sexual Trauma.
In addition to his clinical work with older adult crime victims and younger veterans, Dr. Acierno has two related but distinct research foci: epidemiological studies of elder mistreatment and treatment outcome studies, focusing on using home based telemedicine for treatment delivery, with victims of trauma, disaster, combat or loss. He is PI on a Department of Defense grant to study behavioral activation and therapeutic exposure delivered via home-based telemedicine for PTSD in active duty service personnel and veterans. He is also PI on a VA MERIT grant to evaluate prolonged exposure for PTSD delivered in-person vs. home-based telemedicine in veterans. He is site PI on 2 large VA multi-site treatment outcome studies, one that compares Sertraline to prolonged exposure for PTSD and one designed to help unemployed veterans with PTSD at risk for homelessness obtain employment. Finally, he is PI on a State of South Carolina grant from the Department of Public Safety to train students in the health professions to assess and intervene in cases of interpersonal violence. Thus Dr. Acierno mixes epidemiological research with treatment outcome research, and keeps close to the clinical world as a clinician-administrator for treatment programs serving both civilian and military traumatized populations.