The Military Health System Research Symposium, held from Aug. 26 to 29 in Kissimmee, Florida, brought together military health professionals, academic researchers, international partners and industry to discuss the latest advancements and challenges in military medicine. This year, the Combat Casualty Care Research Program played a role in the symposium by moderating several key sessions.
On Aug. 26, CCCRP Director Capt. Travis Polk and Portfolio Area Manager Dr. Kimberly Pope led a session titled "Lessons Learned from Current Conflicts in Ukraine and Israel." The session provided a platform for imparting critical insights into modern large scale combat operations. The personal experiences of current LSCOs shared during this session helped to highlight the importance of ongoing collaboration efforts between the DOD and Ukraine.
Neurotrauma Portfolio Area Manager Dr. J.B. Phillips moderating at the 2024 Medical Health System Research Symposium in Kissimmee, Florida, Aug. 27, 2024. (photo credit: Dr. George Jiang, CCCRP Prolonged Care Assistant Portfolio Area Manager)
In honor of the recent Brain Injury Awareness Month in March, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command's Combat Casualty Care Research Program is highlighting a significant achievement within its Neurotrauma Portfolio.
Principally striving to "close military-relevant gaps in combat-related traumatic brain injury from the battlefield through acute hospitalization," the Neurotrauma Portfolio is determined to meaningfully advance the TBI space with both knowledge and materiel solutions. Supplementary efforts include the refinement of clinical practice guidelines, the establishment of individualized approaches to casualty management and the oversight of active clinical trials testing several therapeutics for the acute treatment of TBIs, as well as studies developing technologies to noninvasively diagnose, assess and monitor TBI casualties in the far-forward environment.
From left to right: Dr. Kasey Moritz (CCCRP), Lonie Paxton, Koby Stevens, Pete Scobell, Kevin Pearce, and Janelle Hurwitz (BARDA). (Photo credit: Hayley Rogers, CCCRP)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Army Futures Command is laying the groundwork to strengthen collaboration with academia and small businesses to solve some of the service's most major problems.
The Army has struggled with relationships outside of the established defense industry, particularly with small businesses and Silicon Valley.
Small businesses have expressed concerns about working with the government, mostly in regard to the time it takes to secure a contract award as well as the complex and cumbersome government-contracting process.
David Zakariaie of Senseye shows Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville the ropes in a fixed-wing training simulator at the Capital Factory Aug. 23, 2018.
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The Institute for Defense Robotic Surgical Education program celebrated a significant milestone, training the 100th team on robotic surgery at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, on July 23.
This milestone is significant for Keesler's InDORSE program, showing how far the curriculum has come since the program first stood up in March 2017 with just one robot. Now, InDORSE has acquired a second robot, allowing them to train more military surgical teams across the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA).
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Josh Tyler, 81st Surgical Operations Squadron Institute for Defense Robotic Surgery Education director, and Maj. Scott Thallemer, 81st MSGS InDORSE robot coordinator, pose for a photo in the Clinical Research Lab on Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, June 27, 2019. InDORSE is a program created by Tyler and Thallemer to provide surgeons with training on the DaVinci Xi surgical robot. Keesler AFB was the first hospital to have the DaVinci Xi in the Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kimberly L. Mueller)
BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, Texas -- "We call it the fog. It's like they've been awake for a few days straight" said Col. (Dr.) Michael Richards, 59th Medical Specialty Squadron Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine section chief.
"His wife had to finish his sentences. He could no longer take care of himself, really. He couldn't manage his finances, he couldn't drive, he couldn't take care of his children. He couldn't make decisions, even on small things like choosing what kind of milk to buy at the grocery store."
For this patient, a fighter pilot, suffering from arterial gas embolism, a condition that causes gas bubbles to enter the blood stream and prevent blood flow - "the fog" was a career ender. Or would have been, without the use of hyperbaric medicine.
Jeremy Miller, 59th Medical Specialty Squadron hyperbarics licensed practical nurse, monitors patients inside a hyperbaric chamber May 31, 2019 at Brooke Army Medical Center, Texas
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Dangers are always present in today's world. Whether it is a category 5 hurricane hitting the East Coast leveling everything in its path or an intense fire fight in the heartland of Afghanistan, every day could be someone's last. However, there is a squadron always ready at a moment's notice to do whatever it takes to bring someone.
The 375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron is one of four active duty AE units in the Air Force comprised of 122 members. Units like the 375th AES are the ones who transport the wounded from the frontlines to higher-stage medical facilities while providing life-saving care at 30,000 feet in the air.
"We are sort of a flying hospital" said Master Sgt. Angel Curiel, 375th AES Standards and Evaluations flight chief. "We can do medical care on the plane to ensure they are safe, and they are getting everything they need until they can get back to an [higher-stage] hospital on the ground."
Members of the 375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron care for a 'patient' on a C-17 Globemaster III during training at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., May 17, 2019. Members train on a real flight to simulate what it would actually be like if they needed to care for patients in a real-world situation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Miranda Simpson)
After a deployment to Iraq, a ten-year stint in the Special Forces, and countless hours of medical training sprinkled in between, Joe Ogershock knows how to save a victim of traumatic bleeding.
"First thing's first," said the Senior Medical Trainer for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command during the second annual "National Stop the Bleed Day" event on May 23, "you've got to find the wound and then put pressure on it as fast as you can to slow the blood flow."
USAMRMC employees learn bleeding control techniques during the second annual "National Stop the Bleed Day" event on May 23. (Jeffrey Soares, USAMMDA)