Identifying and Disseminating Best Practices To Treat Long COVID
Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, M.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Long School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center
“AHRQ really wants to get at this… This really aligns with what we’re trying to achieve.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged early in 2020, Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, M.D., switched gears.
An established physiatrist and researcher, Dr. Verduzco-Gutierrez knew she would have to pitch in to help with the pandemic, which was having a large impact on her community in South Texas. Even before Long COVID was identified, patients in her region presented with many diverse symptoms following a COVID-19 diagnosis, such as stroke, chronic fatigue, infection, and spinal cord infarction—a stroke within the spinal cord or arteries that supply it.
“I found a lot of alignment with what we already knew how to treat,” says Dr. Verduzco-Gutierrez, professor and chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Long School of Medicine, University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at San Antonio. “So we said, ‘we need to step up, because we have a skillset that can help patients here.’”
Long COVID comprises the symptoms and conditions that continue or develop after an initial COVID-19 infection. It has persistent and varying health effects, with a disproportionately large impact on underserved populations that have poor access to care. Limited knowledge and resources can worsen already existing delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Verduzco-Gutierrez specializes in caring for patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke rehabilitation, and interventional spasticity management. In 2022, she established the Long COVID clinic at UT Health San Antonio to coordinate treatment, training, and education for this multisymptomatic condition.
Then, in 2023, she received a 5-year AHRQ grant to expand the clinic and develop best practices that could help other communities develop their Long COVID outreach. Her project, created in English and Spanish, is called Comprehensive Long COVID Care for Underserved Communities: Innovative Delivery and Dissemination Models (Comunidad). It includes using community health workers, mobile apps, social media platforms, and other communication avenues to increase health literacy for both English and Spanish speakers and to teach the community about Long COVID and accessing care.
She came to AHRQ because it already published a Request for Proposals about Long COVID. “AHRQ really wants to get at this, and it’s able to bring together all sorts of different specialties that are required,” Dr. Verduzco-Gutierrez said. “This really aligns with what we’re trying to achieve.” Her project ends September 29, 2028.
Principal Investigator: Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, M.D.
Institution:University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Grantee Since: 2023
Type of Grant: Research Demonstration/Cooperative Agreement (U18)
Related AHRQ Resources
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