DoD, NIH, and VA hold conference examining emerging research on polytrauma recovery and reintegration of service members, veterans and their families, December 2, 2010 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Thursday, December 2, 2010 Contacts:
Judith Evans
Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injuryz
Desk: 703-604-5662
Cell: 202-679-6668

Katie Roberts
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Desk: 202-461-4982
Cell: 202-527-2332

Jennifer E. Gorman
Office of Research on Women's Health
Office of the Director, NIH
301-496-9200 (Direct Line)
301-402-1770 (Main Office)
301-328-6034 (Work Cell) Media Availability

DoD, NIH, and VA hold conference examining emerging research on polytrauma recovery and reintegration of service members, veterans and their families

What: The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), along with the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), will host the third annual Trauma Spectrum Conference. The focus of this year’s conference will be emerging research on polytrauma in support of the care and recovery of military service members and Veterans and also of their reintegration into their families and communities.
Polytrauma is defined as two or more injuries that affect multiple body parts or organ systems, and result in physical, cognitive, psychological, and/or psychosocial impairments and functional disabilities. The Trauma Spectrum Conference seeks to address the full range of polytrauma, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), vision and hearing losses, and extremity injuries and amputations.

Among the conference highlights:

•Recent research on blast Injury, PTSD and Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans
•Panel discussion by several service members who have recovered from polytrauma, featuring retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido of DCoE's Real Warriors Campaign and vice president of programs and military affairs for Folds of Honor Foundation
•Acute psychological and TBI care in theater
•Reintegration challenges among OEF/OIF military and veterans and their family members
•Gender concerns and polytrauma
•Rehabilitation at the Vision, Hearing and Extremity Blast Centers of Excellence
•New approaches for polytrauma care and integrated post-deployment care
•Transitional assistance and family and caregiving programs to support reintegration
•Transitional living and new technologies

Among the featured speakers:

•Dr. Elaine R. Peskind, Friends of Alzehiemer's Research, director of Clinical Research, Mental Health Services of VA and professor for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
•Colonel Jamie Grimes, M.D., national director for the Defense and Veteran’s Brain Injury Center
•Leading pain researchers, including Colonel Chester Buckenmaier, M.D., Roger Fillingim, Ph.D., and Stephen Wegener, Ph.D., ABPP.
•Dr. Stephen J. Cozza, associate director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress and professor at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Department
•Leading researchers at VA’s Polytrauma and Rehabilitation Centers, including Drs. Michael Clark, Nina Sayer, Joan Griffin, Gregory Goodrich, Jan Jasiewicz and Steven Scott

When: Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 and Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010

Media planning to attend the conference should respond to public affairs contacts listed above.

For additional information please visit:
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Events/UpcomingConferences.aspx

Where: Natcher Conference Center, Building 45, at the National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20892: http://www.nih.gov/about/directions.htm

The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) mission is to assess, validate, oversee, and facilitate prevention, resilience, identification, treatment, outreach, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs for psychological health and traumatic brain injury to ensure the Department of Defense meets the needs of the nation's military communities, warriors and families. For more information on the DCoE, please visit http://dcoe.health.mil/.

The Department of Veterans Affairs VA Research and Development program is able to foster the development of patient-centered evidence for clinical care decision-making and serves as a model for conducting superior bench-to-bedside research. Research advances and solutions are applied to patient care as rapidly as possible to benefit not only Veterans, but their family members and caregivers. For additional information about the VA Research Program, please visit www.research.va.gov.

The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) serves as a focal point for women's health research at the NIH. For more information about NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health, please visit: http://orwh.od.nih.gov/. ORWH was one of the original partners for these annual conferences, focusing on women’s health research as it relates to service members, veterans, and the impact on care-giving and families.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.


---------------------

The NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, DCoE and the VA Research and Development program would like to acknowledge the contributions of three new federal partners in this conference. The Department of Education, the Department of Labor and the United States Department of Agriculture provided expert speakers in support of this meeting.

--------------------
DoD, NIH, and VA hold conference examining emerging research on polytrauma recovery and reintegration of service members, veterans and their families, December 2, 2010 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)