About
Breakout Session Description
| MHSRS 2021 Focus Area | ||
|---|---|---|
| Warfighter Medical Readiness | ||
| Breakout Session | Topic Area | Session Description |
| Updates in Deployment-Related Bacterial Diarrhea Prevention for the Battlefield | Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment | Abstracts should address: 1. Studies describing the epidemiology as well as acute and chronic impacts of travelers' diarrhea, focusing on military populations; 2. Non-vaccine approaches to prevent travelers' diarrhea; 3. Approaches for treatment of travelers' diarrhea. |
| Detecting the Next Threats: Technological Advances for Field Pathogen Identification | Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment | Fielded pathogen detection continues to be a gap and many laboratories have adopted strategies to get answers to their warfighter in an expedited manner. This session aims to provide overviews of currently fielded technologies, gaps, and potential solutions to the detection of new and emerging infectious disease threats. Abstracts submitted to this session should address the following topics: 1. State of the Science for fielded pathogen detection to include new DNA/RNA or protein based technologies; 2. Challenges to pathogen detection to include data management/interpretation, database availability, and potential solutions for these challenges; 3. Technologies that could detect emerging infectious diseases. |
| Development of New Front Line Therapies to Prevent and Treat non SARS CoV-2 Endemic Viral Diseases | Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment | Abstracts should address: 1. Describe agnostic vaccine platforms to prevent non SARS-CoV-2 viral diseases; 2. New treatment approaches for non SARS-CoV-2 viral diseases; 3. Mitigation strategies to prevent spread /exposure to non SARS-CoV-2 viral diseases. |
| Military Exposures and Subsequent Long-term Outcomes | Environmental and Occupational Health | Abstracts submitted to this session should address one or more of the following topics: 1. logistical challenges to the consolidation of DoD and VA data sources for studying long-term outcomes after military exposures; 2. Studies examining the impact of military exposures on chronic medical conditions (including, but not limited to, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer); 3. Studies of military exposures and mental health outcomes. |
| Transitioning Real-Time Physiological Status Monitoring Technology to the Training Environment | Remote Monitoring | This session examines the difficulties in developing real-time PSM systems to provide military trainers real-time alerts to reduce the risk of impending illness or injury. A useful and usable system requires validated algorithms to detect and provide alerts for relatively “rare” (1 or 2 events per 1000) injury events; an unobtrusive low cost wearable sensor; and a system to alert trainers to potential increased injury risk. Any system must have a positive cost benefit ratio. An algorithm or alert must have the potential to reduce injury rates or reduce the cost of risk mitigation preparedness, and alerting should provide actionable information. Meeting the competing needs of the research community for validation data, and that of a training unit for actionable information will be addressed. |
| Innovative Approaches for Maximizing Psychological Health and Resilience in Specialized Military Populations | Psychological Health and Resilience | Psychosocial health and resilience not only affects acute and chronic mental health of military members and their families, but the readiness of the fighting force. To maintain resilience and readiness of the force requires a comprehensive approach that includes both prevention and intervention. Innovative approaches are needed for specialized fields such as cyber, remote fighters, and first responders. Building better psychological health and resilience requires advanced understanding of the relationships between psychosocial and physiological outcomes. Abstracts submitted to this session should address any of the following topics: 1. Quantifiable approaches to psychological health and resilience; 2. New psychological health and resilience research findings for specialized warfighters and/or first responders; 3. Innovative experimental design and methodologies for resilience and psychological readiness research in military populations; and/or 4. Novel areas of military-related programs for psychological health and readiness. care for suicide-related issues among Warfighters. |
| Training Programs for Suicide Risk and Behavioral Health Care | Psychological Health and Resilience | Efficient and effective training for healthcare providers is critical to maintaining readiness in the medical force, which contributes to medical readiness in the warfighting force. This session will focus on recent efforts to train military healthcare providers on evidence-based and -informed suicide risk and other behavioral healthcare procedures. Abstracts submitted to this session should address any of the following topics: 1. Process- or patient-driven outcome results of a standardized training regimen for military behavioral healthcare providers; 2. New research findings related to the development of efficacious training programs for military behavioral health providers; 3. Lessons learned and/or quality improvement recommendations for suicide risk care trainings. |
| Sexual Assault and Harassment: Prevention and Treatment Research for the Department of Defense | Psychological Health and Resilience | This session aims to spotlight research examining one of the most costly and harmful threats to the resilience of the force: sexual assault and harassment. This session will focus specifically on the prevention and treatment of sexual assault among Service members. This session will also give a special focus on the vastly underserved but grossly overrepresented population who fall victim to sexual assault and sexual harassment--understudied minority populations within in the military (males, LGBTQ, ethnic minorities). Studies should address prevention research initiatives that aim to increase knowledge on the prevention of sexual trauma from degrading the resilience of the force. Alternatively or in conjunction with prevention, studies should also include data regarding the consequences of sexual trauma exposure and research examining evidence-based treatment for military Warfighters. |
| Advances and Innovations in Preventing, Detecting, and Treating Alcohol and Opioid Use Disorders in the Warfighter | Psychological Health and Resilience | Abstracts should present data from research studies that advance knowledge in the prevention, detection and treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder and/or Opioid Use Disorder. Approaches to research may include 1. Public health perspectives (overall data trends in rates of disorder and/or service use); 2. Research informed clinical perspectives and evaluations and reviews of innovative programs that advance knowledge in treatment and/ or deployed settings; 3. Policy approaches supported by data to improve the voluntary seeking of and engagement in services by Active Duty Service Member; 4. Findings from studies of overarching challenges, barriers and solutions of patient experiences including benefits perceived, recovery achieved and/or stigma experienced. |
| Aeromedical Aspects of the Army's Future Vertical Lift Program | Injury Prevention | The Army's Future Vertical Lift program is developing a series of new aircraft with expanded mission and fight characteristics, featuring new technologies and physiological challenges that will test the limits of human performance, and present new physical challenges to aircrew health and survival. This panel will review the major characteristics of the developing FVL aircraft family, describe the aeromedical and performance challenges presented by these advanced aircraft, and present the comprehensive ongoing research program aimed at preserving FVL aircrew health, performance, occupant protection, and enroute casualty care. Major elements include aircrew health and medical standards, performance maintenance and enhancement, operator state monitoring and scalable autonomy, advanced occupant crash protection, head / spine protection, post-crash survival, enroute casualty care, and flight medic performance. Topics will range from visual problems (helmet-mounted displays) to real time monitoring of aircrew for fatigue, workload, hypoxia, etc., to new crashworthy seats that prevent spine fractures, to an 'elite athlete' model of holistic health, to the effects of sleep deprivation on flight medic performance. |
| MHSRS 2021 Focus Area | ||
| Expeditionary Medicine | ||
| Breakout Session | Topic Area | Session Description |
| Antimicrobial Development to Counter Wound Infections in Military Personnel | Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Treatment | Combat wound infections due to drug-resistant or multidrug-resistant organisms are on the rise in deployed military personnel. The focus of this session is on research leading to the development of 1. Rapid diagnostics, novel preventive and treatment strategies for combat wound infections and complications with multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens; 2. Strategies and technologies to diagnose, predict and prevent sepsis in a prolonged field care environment; 3.Novel approaches to counter the threat of antibiotic-resistance through alternative treatment strategies and development of novel therapeutics. |
| Sepsis 360 - Early Detection and Treatment in the Operational Environment | Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Treatment | Abstracts submitted to this session should address novel methods of predicting, detecting, and/or treating sepsis in a resource limited environment or in the setting of a novel outbreak |
| Standardization of Blast and Unconventional Exposure Novel Injuries | Blast-related Injuries - Prevention, Mitigation and Treatment | Injuries from Blast-related exposure continues to be a top DoD health priority and as combat becomes more lethal and disruptive, it is critical to have standardized methodologies for research in order to translate into clinical use. Concurrently, rapid proliferation of unconventional armaments, such as directed energy weapons, has introduced novel injury paradigms that require similar methodologies. Abstracts submitted to this session should address any of the following topics related to standardization of blast exposure research: 1. Innovative technologies that improve clinical translation (i.e., organ-on-a-chip, human iPSCs); 2. Macro/micromechanical modeling for discretization of blast exposure parameters; 3. Next generation sensor technologies for unconventional exposure modalities; 4. Clinical solutions for blast injury mediation and/or 5. Application of novel biotechnology to respond to novel emerging unconventional exposure types. |
| Caring for Traumatic Soft Tissue and Orthopedic Injury Austere Environments | Blast-related Injuries - Prevention, Mitigation and Treatment | This session will focus on innovative technologies to treat traumatic soft tissue and orthopedic injuries related to extremity trauma injuries. Areas of interest include novel technologies and therapeutic solutions to stabilize soft tissue and orthopedic injuries, prevent secondary injuries, and maintain tissue viability in austere environments, particularly when evacuation to higher levels of care is delayed or unavailable. |
| Evaluation of Sub-concussive Blast Exposure in Military Training | Blast-related Injuries - Prevention, Mitigation and Treatment | Blast exposure is relatively unique to military service members, occurs most often during training exercises, and each individual blast is not generally sufficient to lead to a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but the cumulative impact of repetitive sub-concussive blast exposure (RSBCE) can lead to symptoms that mimic those of TBI. This is a particular concern for Special Operations Forces, breachers, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians. The relatively recent advent of sensitive blast gauge sensors, as well as novel blood biomarker assays, and measures of cerebrovascular reactivity, electroencephalography, audiologic and tactile sensation, oculomotor and vestibular function, afford the opportunity to better understand and characterize RSCBE. This breakout will convey current applications of such technologies in military training exercises. Abstract submissions should address any of the following topics: 1. Efficacy of current safety precautions and personal protective equipment (e.g., helmets, body armor) for weapons, breaching charges, and events in different blast environments; 2. How features of the environment where blast overpressure (BOP) exposure occurs may contribute to related changes in Service Member health and performance; 3) Development of a brain injury risk criteria to be used in health assessments to characterize and analyze BOP exposures; 4. How individual characteristics affect susceptibility to BOP-related performance decrements/injuries; 5. How occupational exposures to other blast effects (e.g., chemical substances) contribute to overall BOP-exposure, 6. Results of assessments of physiologic assessments of performance. |
| Effects of Repeated Exposure to Military Occupational Blast: Implications for Warfighter Health and Performance | Blast-related Injuries - Prevention, Mitigation and Treatment | Abstracts submitted to this session may focus on: 1. Occurrence of repeated exposure to military occupational blast ; 2. Strategies for preventing and for detecting potential injury from military occupational blast; 3. Investigation of acute or long-term effects of repetitive sub-concussive blast exposure on Warfighter’s cognitive and psychological functioning; 4. Examination of the acute or long-term effects of repetitive sub-concussive blast exposure on functional performance of the warfighter; 5. Rates of self-reported health problems, medical diagnoses, and healthcare utilization. |
| Assessing the Feasibility of Including Blast Exposures in Medical Record | Blast-related Injuries - Prevention, Mitigation and Treatment | Abstracts should address results from performers in the Blast Overpressure Studies (BOS) - Pilot. This program includes the following studies: BOS- Longitudinal team, Environmental Sensors in Training, Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System - Industrial Hygiene, Joint Health Risk Management System and Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record. |
| Rising Challenges to En Route Care and Patient Movement | Enroute Care | Abstracts should address the impact of extreme environments (e.g., maritime, extreme cold, subterranean, dense urban) on: 1. Support requirements and medical capabilities projection to point of need; 2. Sustaining provider capability and capacity; and 3. Impact on patient condition and outcome. |
| Advancing Automated Patient Care and Movement | Enroute Care | Abstracts should address: 1. Technologies to automate patient care and movement, including assessment of risk and decision support; 2. Advancements in assistive and autonomous medical systems; and 3. Regulatory, doctrinal, and organizational considerations for implementing automated care systems in military operational environments. |
| Convergence of Advanced Medical Technologies for the Delivery of Casualty Care in the Future Multi-Domain Operations | Medical Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support | Abstracts should address topics related to technology for assisting providers operating in current and future multi-domain battlefields who will be required to care for large numbers of casualties in austere and resource limited settings, outside of doctrinal timeframes. Topics include the use of technologies to assist providers in better diagnosis of patient injuries, advanced medical robotic technologies, technologies to improve patient management, and triage technologies to leverage autonomous and unmanned systems for casualty care management and evacuation, clinical decision support technologies, advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, technologies that increase the capacity of patients receiving care, and technologies to optimize logistics associated with medical care in the battlefield. Topics also include the use of autonomous systems that can offload both cognitive and manual tasks from providers across all roles of care to include the use of robotic and non-robotic approaches for treating combat casualties in multi-domain and prolonged care environments and technologies that provide for better interactions between users and computer (man-machine teaming). |
| Technologies and Approaches to Support Specialty Virtual Health in Denied, Intermittent, or Low-Bandwidth Communications Environments | Operational Telemedicine | Abstracts should address topics related to technology for delivering remote care (telemedicine, telementoring, and related concepts) in current and future multi-domain operations (MDO) environments. Topics include Virtual Health specialty solutions sets, including, but not limited to Behavioral Health and Ophthalmology. Topics may also include the use of advanced communications for delivery of remote medical capabilities in MDO when faced with prolonged care scenarios and/or large numbers of combat casualties expected during large scale combat operations where communication networks may not be available or have intermittent connectivity. Additionally, topics can also include technologies related to advanced clinical decision support systems for remote care, use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in remote environments, and technologies related to advanced user interfaces (such as virtual reality and/or augmented reality) for use in virtual health situations. |
| Life Saving Interventions for Hemorrhage Control | Hemorrhage Control /Blood and Blood Products | Abstracts should address animal and human laboratory research that addresses gaps in early life-saving interventions on the battlefield for hemorrhage control. This should include technologies that control bleeding in the prehospital environment. |
| Novel Strategies for Treatment of Shock or Blood Failure: Antishock Pharmaceuticals and Blood Products | Hemorrhage Control | Abstracts should address: 1. Whole Blood Failure; 2. Mechanisms of shock caused by trauma; 3. Shock mitigation strategies; 4. Current and new directions of anti-shock therapeutics; or 5. Current and new directions of blood and blood products for treatment of shock-related trauma, or in resource limited environments. |
| Cellular Therapeutics for Treatment of Shock and Trauma | Hemorrhage Control | Abstracts should address: 1. Cellular therapeutics for use in trauma indications; 2. Biology and mechanism of cellular therapeutics; 3. Current and new directions in cellular therapeutics; 4. Cellular therapeutic processing and manufacturing |
| Advances in Prolonged Care | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged Care | The purpose of this session is to present innovative preclinical and clinical research to enable critical care and casualty management capabilities to be moved closer to the point of need to decrease mortality and morbidity during prolonged care scenarios. Prolonged care is inclusive of prehospital field care, austere/resource limited environments, littoral and sea based operations, and in theatre hospital environments where patients may be held prior to evacuation beyond doctrinal timelines. Areas of interest include simulation technologies (e.g., mixed, virtual, blended realities and holographic patient representation), novel technologies for damage control and combat surgical care in a forward environment, solutions to prevent and treat secondary injury and acute treatment sequelae, prolonged casualty management, minimizing the logistical burden associated with prolonged care capabilities to enable their use far forward. Abstracts should articulate how research outcomes would improve casualty care, specifically when evacuation is delayed or unavailable, or in resource limited environments |
| Multi-Organ Dysfunction in Prolonged Field Care Scenarios | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged Care | Abstracts should address animal and human research aimed at diagnosing, preventing, or mitigating the progression of acute organ injury following combat-related trauma under prolonged care scenarios. Work should reflect the problem of maintaining a casualty in austere conditions under a delayed evacuation scenario rather than initial casualty care. |
| Acute Lung Injury in Trauma and Critical Illness | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged Care | Abstract should address at least one of the following: 1. Prevention of Acute Lung Injury (ALI)/Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in trauma or critical illness; 2. Early detection of ALI/ARDS (especially in a military operational environment); 3.Clinical management of ALI /ARDS (especially in a military operational prolonged care setting). |
| Point of Care Ultrasound in the Expeditionary Environment - From Point of Injury through Out of Theater Evacuation | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged Care | The use of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) has demonstrated significant value in the triage and management of patients in emergency departments throughout the world. Its value is amplified in expeditionary and austere locations where other imaging is not available and triage decisions are high stakes. POCUS is not a widely credentialed/privileged capability in the MHS outside of emergency medicine and not an expected capability throughout the continuity of expeditionary medicine. Abstracts to this breakout should address: 1. How POCUS in the operational setting enhances the safety and effectiveness of expeditionary or austere care; 2. Current challenges and gaps in policy, research, technology, education, and training that are preventing this capability from being fully available; 3. Describe current efforts to overcome these challenges. |
| Innovations in Forward/Prolonged Care of Neuromusculoskeletal Injuries | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged Care | Abstracts should address innovative solutions, including both knowledge and materiel products, which aim to improve functional outcomes and facilitate rapid return-to-duty, thereby enabling enhanced readiness of the Joint force, following neuromusculoskeletal injury within a prolonged care setting, to include: 1. Biologically-inspired treatments which aim to accelerate rates of endogenous healing; 2. Bracing/exoskeleton devices which aim to enable rapid mobility; 3. Therapies which facilitate acute limb stabilization and/or wound protection from subsequent deleterious sequela. |
| Responding to a Nuclear Event with Resource Limitations | Forward Surgical Care/Prolonged | An increase in combat scenarios spanning multi domain operations will result in a complex future battlefield and make casualty transport difficult. The inability to adhere to the Golden Hour recommendations will delay definitive clinical care and jeopardize the lives of warfighters with largely survivable injuries. Furthermore, the threat of nuclear or radiological warfare in these environments is high and the military medical community will encounter an unprecedented challenge. Immediate assessment of casualties will be needed for triage, and lingering radiation levels without the ability for transport will have unforeseen consequences. Abstracts submitted to this session should address this response, with acceptable submissions ranging from radiation exposure to high and low doses of radiation, to the basic knowledge of combined radiation exposure and traumatic injuries. |
| Advances in Acute Management of Severe Burn Wounds | Burn Injury | This session presents preclinical and clinical research aimed at delivering strategies for acute burn wound management near the point of injury by medical and non-medical first responders through burn wound care at Role 2 by non-burn specialist personnel. Focus is on development of easy to use tools/methodologies with low logistical burden to treat thermal (heat or cold), chemical, or radiological burn wounds, potentially under austere and/or prolonged care and/or mass casualty scenarios. Studies involving topical application of therapeutics are preferred over other routes of administration, and devices and clinical practice guidelines/best practices to optimize burn wound recovery outcomes are also sought. Abstracts should address at least one of the following: therapies to prevent burn wound progression; non-surgical methods for automated burn wound debridement; multi-functional technologies to provide barrier, antimicrobial, wound-stabilizing, and wound healing acceleration functions; decision support tools to improve triage, guide treatment, and increase burn patient treatment capacity. |
| Non-pharmacological pain management for the Warfighter | Pain Management | Warfighters need pain management techniques that are rapid, effective and non-sedating. Abstracts should explain both novel and new applications of pain management methods that can be used in the field or in role 2/3 facilities. We are particularly interested in efficacy and portability. This session is open to both basic science and clinical science related to non-pharmacologic pain management. |
| Pain Management for the Future Fight | Pain Management | Abstracts should include: 1. Pain management strategies for patients without access or with limited access to skilled providers and resources on the battlefield and under prolonged care conditions; pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic; 2. Pain management strategies that address post-acute pain comorbidities and related mental status as well as complementary or integrative health treatment modalities that affect pain outcomes such as: reduction in pain intensity, reduction in analgesics or healthcare utilization, physical activity level, and recovery time; 3. Acute and long term pain comorbidities that impact warfighter lethality and readiness, or 4. Evidence-based strategies for how to tailor pain management along the echelons of medical care for battlefield injuries. |
| Biomarkers for TBI: Diagnostic and Prognostic Indicators Battlefield | Traumatic Brain Injury - Acute Diagnostics and Treatment | Biomarkers are promising objective diagnostic and prognostic indicators of dysregulation after traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, there is currently an incomplete understanding of the promising biomarker candidates, which has limited their use in clinical practice. The purpose of this session is to highlight research findings/developments of diagnostic and prognostic indicators for TBI of all severities. The abstracts submitted should address current gaps in knowledge by describing objective diagnostic strategies/technologies aimed at sub-phenotyping different TBI injuries. The usability and clinical interpretation of either novel devices that can be used to track biomarkers or technology-based performance assessments for TBI may also be discussed. Emphasis on the indicators/technologies that may be implemented in deployed or austere environments in the future is encouraged. |
| Managing Cognitive Function Deficits post-TBI | Traumatic Brain Injury - Acute Diagnostics and Treatment | Abstracts submitted to this session should address any of the following topics: 1. Longitudinal studies of cognitive function following TBI/military service; 2. Identification of risk or modifiable factors for later risk of cognitive dysfunction following TBI/military service; 3. Relationship of military service to development of diagnosed dementias. |
| Acutely Administered Interventions for Battlefield TBI | Traumatic Brain Injury - Acute Diagnostics and Treatment | The purpose of this session is to highlight novel treatment and management capabilities to be used in the prehospital environment. Specifically, the abstracts submitted should describe one of the following capabilities: 1. Prevent or mitigate the progression of brain injury; 2. Stabilize acute TBI casualties; 3. Improve the capability of first responders to perform triage and initiate treatment on injured Service members; 4. Improve outcomes. |
| Novel Interventions for mild Traumatic Brain Injury | Traumatic Brain Injury - Acute Diagnostics and Treatment | Persistent symptoms such as headaches, dizziness or sleep difficulties, often continue to interfere with function for months to years after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). No therapy has yet been proven effective in relieving such symptoms and improving functional status. However, a variety of novel approaches are now in clinical trials. The techniques, and preliminary results for approaches for which they are available, will be presented. These include translation of brain electrical activity to musical notes to reflect back at the brain to help it reset, and a range of computer- or phone-based applications focusing on specific subsets of symptoms after mTBI, such as headaches, depression, or sleep difficulties. |
| MHSRS 2021 Focus Area | ||
| Warfighter Performance | ||
| Breakout Session | Topic Area | Session Description |
| Advances in Warfighter Nutrition | Human Performance Optimization | Abstracts should address the impact of military training and operations on dietary intake and nutritional status, as well as the potential physiological effects of nutrition/pharmacological interventions on Service Member health and performance. |
| Management of Sleep and Fatigue for Maximization of Warfighter Operational Readiness | Human Performance Optimization | Abstracts should address: 1. Approaches to managing fatigue that incorporate new technologies or strategies for managing fatigue risk; 2. Neurophysiologic mechanisms underlying recuperation during sleep; 3. Mechanism-based methods to augment sleep's recuperative value; 4. Operationally-relevant cognitive assessment tools |
| Ongoing Health Issues in Military High Performance Flight | Human Performance Optimization | Abstracts for this session should focus on: 1. Epidemiological studies that address one or more factors leading to ongoing health issues with aircrew (e.g., physiological episodes, chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal injury, etc.); 2. Laboratory and field studies characterizing the physiological, cognitive and psychological effects of aerospace operational stressors; and 3. Mitigation strategies for maximizing aircrew availability and resiliency. |
| Innovative Neuromodulation Approaches for Optimization of Blast Related Brain Injury Treatment Response and Warfighter Enhanced Performance | Human Performance Optimization | This session will present current state of science neuromodulation techniques, and how innovative neuromodulation approaches can assist with blast-related brain injury treatment and enhance Warfighter performance. Abstracts should address: 1. Investigation of advanced neuromodulation techniques and/or creative basic and translational research methods, and impacts on physical, cognitive, and/or emotional performance, including barriers to implementation of modulation devices in theater; 2. Innovations in non-invasive neuromodulation approaches in improving cognitive performance after blast induced injury; 3. Potential novel non-invasive neuromodulation mitigation and treatment options of blast induced mild traumatic brain injury following repetitive exposure in training and in deployed environments. |
| MHSRS 2021 Focus Area | ||
| Return-to-Duty | ||
| Breakout Session | Topic Area | Session Description |
| Sensory Combat Injuries: Innovative Diagnostic and Treatment Strategies for Hearing and Vision | Sensory Systems Treatment | The session will focus on research that addresses 1. Epidemiology of military-related sensory (hearing or vision) loss/dysfunction; 2. Preclinical and clinical research advancing sensory diagnostics and treatments to preserve or restore function; 3. Current standard of care for the treatment of trauma to vision or hearing systems (e.g., open globe injuries, tinnitus and hearing loss), 4. Preclinical and clinical research advancing sensory trauma treatment feasible in operational environments and perspectives that address: a) Current and anticipated sensory systems injuries epidemiology, b) Current and anticipated impact on readiness, performance and return to duty, 4. Treatment needs, research opportunities and strategies to prepare for the future war or d) resource constraints both of supplies and medical expertise. |
| Return to Duty Determination after mTBI | Traumatic Brain Injury – Post Injury Management | Guidelines for management of concussion are rapidly evolving and remain highly relevant in the Military Health System. A timely Return to Duty (RTD) is vital to a ready force, but a too early return can lead to safety concerns for the service member and their unit. Advancement in objective, validated methods for symptom assessment and evaluation of readiness for duty should be a significant priority. There is increasing recognition of the importance of cognitive readiness for duty in addition to physical performance metrics. Recent studies have investigated usability of the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation 2 and the Progressive Return to Activity Clinical Recommendation. Developments in MOS-specific readiness, assessment tools, and strategies to facilitate RTD, emerging technology, and research considerations will be discussed. |
| TBI Future Care Today: Optimizing Warfighter Brain Health following TBI | Traumatic Brain Injury - Acute Diagnostics and Treatment | The intent of this session is to provide research on current and near-future (within 3 years) systems, devices, and mechanisms for the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury. Data-based presentations that fall in one or more of these categories are welcome. Data must be presented (i.e., no theoretical papers) and must be relevant to warfighter brain health and return to duty. Abstracts should address: Current and near-future 1) TBI assessment and 2) TBI treatment. |
| Advances in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatments for Warfighters | Traumatic Brain Injury – Post Injury Management Treatment | This session will focus on current advances to mitigate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in special operations personnel and other warfighters, with particular emphasis on evidence-based treatments and care pathways in the MHS. Abstracts submitted to this session should address any of the following topics: 1. evidence-based adjunct PTSD treatments or precision approaches to treating PTSD, including those incorporating smartphone apps or other telehealth technology for support outside of MHS care encounters, 2. effective video/telehealth/non-face-to-face approaches for the delivery of evidence-based, PTSD treatments, to maximize access to treatment, 3. lessons learned and/or quality improvement recommendations for current PTSD treatments used with special operations personnel or other warfighters, 4. innovative approaches to remote or virtual training in PTSD treatments for behavioral health clinicians to commercialization and may be at all stages of development. |
| Prevention and Treatment of Musculoskeletal Injuries - An Emphasis on [near-term] Readiness and [long-term] Resilience | Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention | Musculoskeletal injuries are the leading reason for medical non-deployability and severely affect Warfighter readiness and return to duty (RTD). Abstracts should address: 1. Advances in detection/prevention strategies of musculoskeletal injuries with an emphasis on RTD and military readiness; 2. Identification of healthcare disparities and underrepresented populations who may experience musculoskeletal injuries; 3. Emerging trends in military medicine and the civilian sector in this field. |
| Advancements in Prosthetic and Orthotic Technologies that Facilitate Return to Duty Following Neuromusculoskeletal Injuries | Neuromusculoskeletal Injury Treatment | Abstracts should address innovative solutions and treatments involving prosthetic and orthotic technologies aimed at enabling high function, facilitate return-to-duty, to include: 1. Prosthetic interface solutions; 2. Maximization of tissue health between the use and the device; 3. Advance rehabilitation therapies to accelerate use of and function with a device; and 4. Optimization of device prescription. |
| Advances in Regenerative Medicine Therapies for Treatment of Neuromusculoskeletal Injuries: Enabling Enhanced Functional Outcomes | Neuromusculoskeletal Injury Treatment | Abstracts should address regenerative medicine centric approaches and products that provide innovative and effective solutions to enhance functional outcomes following neuromusculoskeletal injury, including but not limited to: 1. Advances in the development and/or evaluation of regenerative medicine therapies which aim to facilitate improved functional outcomes following neuromusculoskeletal injures, such as fracture healing, volumetric muscle loss, peripheral nerve injury; 2. Optimization of the wound healing environment to facilitate improved endogenous regeneration; 3. Strategies to enhance vascularization and/or innervation of tissues, whole systems approaches, and advanced solutions for functional regeneration of complex traumatic injuries; 4. Advances in the development of synergistic rehabilitative interventions that might enhance the biological and/or functional efficacy of regenerative medicine interventions (i.e., Regenerative Rehabilitation), including the therapeutic treatment window, dosing, frequency, intensity and/or duration of interventions; or Advances in clinical translation and/or commercialization of regenerative medicine-based knowledge or materiel products. |
| MHSRS 2021 Focus Area | ||
| Additional Sessions | ||
| Breakout Session | Topic Area | Session Description |
| Updates on Military Women's Health | Abstracts should address the following key areas of interest: 1. Health topics with a sex- or gender-difference analysis that impact deployment readiness and performance of military personnel; 2. Treating chronic health conditions that return women to duty; and/or 3. Improved obstetric and postpartum care for Active Duty women. | |
| Innovations in Military Health Services Research and Education Strategies to Enhance Medical Readiness | The session will feature approaches to education and research that align with the readiness mission and abstracts will describe a focused approach and experiences of clinician scientists as both end users, innovators of usable R&D solutions, and authors of clinical practice guidelines with military relevance to ensure best care of patients. Health Services Research (HSR) is often considered a strictly academic discipline, but is surprisingly relevant to the readiness and performance of our warfighters. HSR is also used to determine the readiness of the medical force through assessment of key system attribute (KSAs) and similar measures. Abstracts should explore the role of medical education and other advanced training programs to engage clinicians in the many facets of the readiness mission to include 1. Innovations in medical training; 2. Impact of national guideline changes and maintenance of KSAs for providers; 3. Identifying military relevant scholarship and research opportunities; 4. Training the next generation of clinicians to provide care on the battlefield and other related areas. | |
| Use of Precision Medicine in Warfighter Return to Duty and Readiness Applications | Abstract submissions for this session will address the application of precision medicine in warfighter scenarios and military clinical practice. Submissions will address genomic sequencing in military precision medicine (consent, sample collection, interpretation, report generation, report disclosure), follow up care, research and education opportunities. | |
| Advanced Biotechnology 2021: Emerging Opportunities to Enhance Warfighter Performance, Resilience and Lethality | Biotechnology is the newest priority of the National Defense Strategy, promising to transform military medicine, Warfighter readiness and lethality in manners previously not envisioned. These advances will be especially critical to ensure our success in operational environments, which will be austere and require unique solutions to detect and diagnose injuries, and innovative approaches to stabilize and maintain continuity of treatment as patients are evacuated through the echelons of care. Abstracts should address novel applications of emerging biotechnology (such as wearable sensors, synthetic biology, organ-on-chip, additive manufacturing, tissue engineering, biofabrication, cell/tissue therapies, countermeasures, imaging, and biorobots) for: 1. Optimization/assessment of warfighter readiness; 2. Solutions for austere military medicine; 3. Enhanced warfighter performance; 4. earlier return to duty; and/or 5. Identification/prevention of emerging threats. | |
| Biomedical Manufacturing For Warfighter Treatment Needs | Abstracts should address 1. Specific manufacturing issues that impact therapeutic development and commercialization; 2. Technologies that can address manufacturing gaps in Raw Materials (e.g. Cells, Biomaterials, Reagents), Equipment and Software (e.g. Sensors, Bioreactors), Automation, Measurement and Data Management (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Analytical techniques), Preservation, Transport and Storage, Processes and Quality Systems; 3. Development of Quality by Design processes for identification and validation of Critical Quality Attributes and the Critical Process Parameters that influence them. | |
| SARS CoV-2 Research Update | Abstracts should address on-going research related to the following research areas for SARS CoV-2: Prevention, Detection, Treatment, Enabling Technologies ABSTRACTS ARE BEING ACCEPTED FOR POSTERS AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS |
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