Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Alejandra Ramirez Alarcon | KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Aug. 28, 2024). Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL)...... read more read more
Over the past few years, Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) has had multiple successful showings at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS). 2024 was no exception, with 9 posters, 5 presentations, and 38 NSMRL staff in attendance from August 25 to August 28.
MHSRS, a four-day symposium held in Kissimmee, Florida, is the Department of Defense's premier scientific meeting focused specifically on the unique medical needs of service members. This annual educational symposium brings together healthcare professionals, researchers, and DoD leaders for four days of critical learning, intensive idea sharing, and relationship building.
On the opening day of the symposium, Lt. Cmdr. Neal McNeal presented in the “Abstracts of Distinction” plenary session on the cross-disciplinary research happening at NSMRL. He spoke on NSMRL’s Naval Psychological Readiness and Human Performance (NPRHP) team and the Undersea Health Epidemiology Research Program (UHERP), who are working to find a way to predict and prevent unplanned personnel losses on submarines, a critical priority for the Navy submarine force.
“This is the first time that we’ve combined data and expertise from these two research programs to identify what is actually predicating unplanned losses, and what different things we can do to mitigate these losses,” said Dr. Dominica Hernandez, research psychologist on the NPRHP team. “Being able to answer why we might be losing some of our submariners at certain points in time is going to help us develop better ways to prevent that loss.”
McNeal’s presentation, and the work of the NPRHP and UHERP teams, was specifically mentioned by Rear Adm. Guido Valdes, Commander, Naval Medical Forces Pacific, during a promotional video highlighting the accomplishments of Naval Medical Research & Development (NMR&D) during the first day of MHSRS.
Scientists from multiple NSMRL teams, including Human Systems Integration, UHERP, Microbiome, NPRHP, Undersea Physiology & Performance Enhancement Research (UPPER), and Disable Submarine Survival, Escape, and Rescue presented during all three symposium poster sessions.
Also, NSMRL had a strong showing during the Undersea Operational Research Panel breakout session, moderated by NSMRL technical director, Dr. Ben Lawson. This was the second consecutive year for this panel, which made its debut at MHSRS in 2023. Of the nine presentations comprising this year’s panel, NSMRL staff presented three.
“The undersea service members are particularly important to current national defense, so I’m pleased that MHSRS once again provided a platform to discuss this important topic,” said Lawson. “There were a multitude of interesting topics covered, and NSMRL had a particularly noteworthy contribution, as Ms. Krystina Diaz, a Bachelor’s-level researcher, was given the opportunity to lead a podium presentation two years in a row.”
Another NSMRL researcher, Dr. David Clark closed the panel with a presentation on submariner psychological attributes associated with adverse career outcomes. Clark received praise from Cmdr. Lee Dortzbach of the Joint Staff.
Closing out the symposium, a collaborative poster between NSMRL and Naval Health Research Center, from Dr. Evan Chinoy and Dr. Sarah Chabal, was awarded first-place for Poster Session 3. Their poster focused on research predicting circadian phases through actigraphy in a military operational context.
NSMRL is looking forward to returning to MHSRS in 2024 for another productive conference sharing the great work it does in support of our undersea warfighters.
NSMRL, part of NMR&D, and based out of Groton, Connecticut, sustains the readiness and superiority of undersea warfighters through innovative health and performance research and works to lead the world in delivering science solutions to ensure undersea warrior dominance.
| Date Taken: | 10.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2024 10:16 |
| Story ID: | 482421 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 2024 Recap: NSMRL at MHSRS, by Emily Swedlund, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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