MAY 31, 2023 – Today’s medical breakthroughs began with research, many with roots in military medicine. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center celebrated recent research work produced by members of its health care team who continue the legacy of advancing health care through safe and quality investigative work.
The Department of Research Programs (DRP) at Walter Reed annually hosts Research and Innovation Month during May to showcase the works of researchers at the medical center. The month-long observance includes a poster competition, named after the late Dr. Paul Florentino, who served as deputy commander of medical services at the hospital and was a proponent of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC). The poster competition highlights work focusing on PFCC, evidence-based practice, and performance and quality improvement.
A month’s events also include a research symposium featuring laboratory and clinical presentations and awards named after noted military medical researchers Army Col. Bailey K. Ashford and Navy Capt. (Dr.) Robert A. Phillips.
The Navy-wide Research Competition, nearing its fourth decade in existence and highlighting works of researchers from Walter Reed, the Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) at Portsmouth, Virginia, and NMRTC San Diego, is also among the month’s activities.
The annual National Capital Region Research and Innovation Competition Award Recognition Ceremony, held this year on May 24, caps off DRP’s month-long observance of Research and Innovation Month.
“We really are an academic medical center,” said Navy Cmdr. Wesley Campbell, director of education, training and research (DETR) at Walter Reed. Retired Army Col. (Dr.) Clifton Yu, deputy DETR, agreed. Yu explained that research is one of the foundations of Walter Reed, along with health care and readiness. The medical center is named after the famous researcher known for confirming the transmission of yellow fever by a particular mosquito species.
Navy Capt. (Dr.) Kelly Elmore, Walter Reed’s chief of staff, commended the researchers for taking on their projects while still fulfilling their clinical, military and other obligations. “You’re making a difference to our beneficiaries and others beyond the doors of Walter Reed,” she said. “We, in the military, are the innovators.”
Elmore explained that because of military medicine research innovators, a number of developments “have been brought forth, put in action on battlefields and in hospitals,” and have led others to seek those in military medicine for their advice and insights. Advances spearheaded by those in military medicine include the ambulance emergency room system, anesthesia, prosthetics, and the treatment of traumatic brain injury, depression and post-traumatic stress.
This year’s research projects during DRP’s Research and Innovation Month focused on issues that included: food insecurity among military families (Air Force Capt. Sidney Zven); pediatric nutrition screening (Air Force Maj. Nathan Kolasinski); urography dose reduction (Navy Lt. Cmdr. John LoVoi); nursing education (Army Capt. Alexander Pastino); pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency (Air Force Maj. Sharen Wilson); VACTERL, or vertebral, anal, tracheoesophageal, radial and renal anomalies (Zven); acute myelogenous leukemia (Navy Lt. Ivo Teneng); massive fetomaternal hemorrhage (Army Maj. Christopher Stark); tele-training for effective ventilation in neonatal resuscitation (Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Groomes); and persistent insomnia risk factors (Army Capt. Zachary Haynes).
Other projects focused on ovarian carcinoma and cervical cancer (Army Maj. Collin Sitler); traumatic brain injury (Army Maj. Sarah Anisowicz); prosthetics (Dr. Pawel Golyski); shoulder instability (Navy Lt. Conor McCarthy); limb salvage (Army Capt. Colin Harrington); radiation exposure from diagnostic imaging (Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ashley Anderson); regional nerve blocks in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy (Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sara Drayer); biomechanical changes in the ankle after syndesmosis and deltoid injury (Army Maj. Donald Colantonio); and biomechanical comparison of C3 dome laminotomy versus open-door plate laminoplasty (Navy Lt. Jeremy Tran).
“Research plays a significant role in the medical field in many different ways, by helping explain pathophysiology, epidemiology, risk factors, and causes of disease,” stated Rachel Jenkins, DRP’s education program specialist. “It allows the medical field to provide optimal care to its patients and supply much needed knowledge for future health care providers.”
Story by Bernard Little
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center