Building Partnerships Through USU’s Western Region Office

By Sarah Marshall

Scientific leaders from throughout the Indo-Pacific region converged for a strategy session of the newly-formed Indo-Pacific Research Alliance for Military Medicine, or IPRAMM, Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The event, hosted by the Uniformed Services University Western Region office (USU-West), was the second forum for the group, led by USU and including representatives from military hospitals and medical centers in the region, Federal research laboratories based in the west, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Defense Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Accounting Agency.

The three-day event is just one of a number of activities facilitated by USU-West, which is based in San Diego, Calif. Since its establishment almost two years ago, USU-West has been providing support to the university’s schools, students, faculty and research programs at institutions and activities west of Colorado.

Dr. Tyler Bennett, deputy to the Commander for Acquisition at the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency, delivered a presentation to attendees at the strategic planning session of the Indo-Pacific Research Alliance for Military Medicine, Nov. 30, 2018, in Honolulu. (Photo by Alan Nordholm, Ph.D.)

The western regional office is led by retired Navy Rear Adm. (Dr.) William Roberts, Senior Vice President for University Programs, and retired Navy Capt. (Dr.) Alan Nordholm, Chief of Staff. Ms. Felix Flores and Ms. Tiffany Helling provide administrative and research support to the USU-West office, respectively.

“This office is strategically located in the western region to support USU students and faculty, and to explore and expand partnerships in the western region. The regional office seeks to ensure that they are provided the tools necessary for continued success in the western region. We are also facilitating USU’s continued growth through the development of regional U.S. government, academic, industry, and international partnerships,” Nordholm said.

Attendees representing USU, military hospitals and medical centers in the Pacific region, Federal research laboratories, and a number of other Federal agencies, participated in the Indo-Pacific Research Alliance for Military Medicine strategy meeting, Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Honolulu. (Courtesy photo)

IPRAMM is one such collaboration. Earlier this year, USU-West staff hosted their first strategic vision session, designed to engage researchers from all three service branches, as well as other federal agencies, hoping to foster unique and innovative research collaborations throughout the Military Health System. The two-day meeting held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., coordinated through USU West and the USU Office of Research, brought together senior researchers from USU, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tripler Army Medical Center, David Grant USAF Medical Center, Naval Medical Center San Diego, Naval Health Research Center, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, DARPA, DIU, and NASA Ames Research Laboratory, and gave birth to IPRAMM. The aim is to pursue cutting edge technology being developed, increase communication and efficiency while reducing redundancy and duplication of efforts in military medical research across the Pacific region.

Another successful partnership facilitated by USU-West was this summer’s subject matter expert exchange, which allowed medical professionals from Japan’s National Defense Medical College (NDMC) to visit and tour the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), including the medical center’s simulation center, and the Naval Health Research Center’s (NHRC) microbiology and performance labs. The visit, in July, was part of an ongoing effort by USU to develop international partnerships. The visit provided insight on combat medical care through state of the art simulators.

Dr. David Tribble and Ms. Felix Flores help facilitate a strategy session during the Indo-Pacific Research Alliance for Military Medicine meeting in Honolulu.  The meeting was co-sponsored by USU’s Western Region office and the USU Vice President for Research. (Image credit: Alan Nordholm, PhD)

“This is good training for fast diagnosis,” said visiting delegate and associate professor, Dr. Manabu Kinoshita. Kinoshita, along with Dr. Yuji Fujikura, another visiting delegate and associate professor, also had a chance to deliver presentations on their own research and engage in beneficial dialogue with NHRC scientists and researchers during their visit.

“Meetings with your researchers at USU-West, lab tours at NMCSD (Sim Lab) and NHRC were very fruitful ones for me and I found many research areas, such as blast injury research, microbiology research, behavioral science, human performance, education/training for students/residents, etc., are our common interest and possible areas for collaboration,” said Dr. Nariyoshi Shinomiya, director of Japan’s NDMC Research Institute. “I will share my experience with my institute members and find the way of future USU-NDMC research collaboration.”