GROTON, Conn. – Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) hosted senior medical officers from the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of National Defense Sept. 30.
The visit was designed to showcase how NSMRL is entrusted to provide state-of-the-art human-centric research medical solutions to protect the health of Navy Submariners and Divers, and sustain superiority in the undersea domain.
“It is an honor to host the highly esteemed leaders from the Taiwan ministry of National Defense and share our research activities with them,” said Capt. Kim Lefebvre, commanding officer of NSMRL.
The Taiwanese delegation’s members specialized in medical occupations that included: Ophthalmology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Phamaceutical Management, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, and Medical Readiness and Healthcare.
Lt. Cmdr. Maile Richert, Submarine Medicine Department Head, discussed current research of the physiologic and cognitive challenges associated with submarine duty.
"The physical and cognitive challenges faced by submariners are often related to the extended amount of time they spend in such an isolated environment. Some of these challenges include (among other things) no exposure to natural sunlight, disrupted circadian rhythms, fatigue, exposure to an atmosphere that shares an enclosed space with industrial machinery, and limits to dietary variety. NSMRL continually works to improve warfighter performance despite these challenges.”
Dr. Brian Maguire explained how the Undersea Health Epidemiology Research Program (UHERP), is the Navy’s first dedicated undersea warfighter longitudinal health cohort study, and how it includes the submariner population and Navy divers.
“This program provides an operational resource the Navy previously lacked,” said Maguire.
While touring the Anechoic Chamber and Reverberant Chamber (Audio Suite), the Taiwanese learned how researchers evaluate field attenuation estimation systems performance in Navy hearing conservation programs.
Master Diver Louis Deflice and Navy Diver 1st class Kyle Smith discussed the capabilities of the dive locker and dive pool.
“A recent study assessed the changes in neurocognitive function during short-duration cold water dives,” said Smith.
Dr. David Fothergill, science director, provided an overview of past and current research performed in NSMRL’s various hyper-/hypo-baric chambers and pointed out the historical significance of the Genesis Hyperbaric Chamber.
“In the early 1960’s Capt Geroge Bond and Capt Robert Workman conducted extensive saturation pressure-chamber tests in the Genesis chamber showing that man could be subjected to saturated diving conditions and successfully decompressed without ill effects,” said Fothergill. “These early chamber tests led to the Sealab projects and the Man-in-the-sea program that translated the U.S. Navy’s saturation diving capabilities from the diving tank to at-sea operations. The Genesis chamber was essentially the birth place of Navy saturation diving.”
The tour ended with Dr. Brandon Casper, deputy department head, Warfighter Performance Department. He explained how his research support the health and injury prevention in Navy divers exposed to underwater blast and other sound sources.
NSMRL devises relevant innovations to protect the Navy’s investment in human capital in the undersea environment. NSMRL is located at the Naval Submarine Base New London. It is part of the Navy Bureau of Medicine’s world wide network of labs, and is the only DoD laboratory dedicated to research in both Submarine and Diving Medicine. NSMRL’s mission is to “Provide innovative human-centric research solutions aligned with the Submarine force strategic direction, to sustain superiority in the undersea domain.”
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2019 10:09 |
| Story ID: | 346569 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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