Recommended Content:
Defense Department health officials will discuss cancer research efforts with the aim to reduce cancer and cancer-related deaths across the Military Health System.
Part of a government-wide White House initiative called Cancer Moonshot, the DOD component will be rolled out May 4 at an event sponsored by the DOD’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
The effort marks a significant expansion of a program that began in 2016, when the DOD, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Cancer Institute created the Applied Proteogenomics Organizational Learning and Outcomes (APOLLO) Network.
The initial effort in 2016 was also part of a government-wide effort that created a network of 13 DOD and VA hospitals that launched eight cancer-specific programs, including studies in lung, breast, prostate, ovarian, pancreatic, testicular, and brain cancers.
Over time, the Cancer Moonshot program will expand the APOLLO Network to all DHA hospitals and extend its research efforts to include all cancer types. The new APOLLO trial network is part of a recent White House “reignition” of the Cancer Moonshot.
“We developed two robust and ongoing programs during the original Cancer Moonshot and will leverage those lessons learned as well as new opportunities to support the nation’s warfighters and veterans through our new DOD initiatives,” said Dr. Craig Shriver, Professor of Surgery at USU. He is director of USU’s Murtha Cancer Research Program and the John P. Murtha Cancer Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The other program is the DOD Framingham, which uses the DOD Serum Repository to study cancer biomarkers in active duty service members.
The emerging field of proteogenomics aims to better predict how individual patients will respond to cancer therapy by screening their tumors for both genetic abnormalities and protein information.
Specifically, it involves combining protein analysis and gene analysis of specimens taken from patients.
Most cancer drugs target proteins, so researchers hope that combining protein analysis and gene analysis will improve doctors’ ability to predict tumor response to treatment and, eventually, to match a specific individual’s tumor with the right drug, DOD said.
As Vice President, Joe Biden was charged with establishing the Cancer Moonshot to reduce cancers significantly through an accelerated research program. During his presidential campaign and first State of the Union address as president in 2021, he has continued to champion this initiative.
The reignition of the initiative contains “new ambitious goals: to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years and improve the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer — and, by doing this and more, end cancer as we know it today,” the White House said.
The Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences will host the DOD’s Cancer Moonshot virtual roundtable on May 4 from 1-2 p.m. Eastern Time. Shriver will moderate the roundtable, “A Conversation on Cancer Health Equity and Military-relevant Environmental Exposure.”
It’s part of a day-long series of federal agency events sponsored by the White House initiative.
The DOD roundtable will be streamed live from USU on May 4. Participants will include:
Military cancer survivors and partners of survivors also will participate in the discussion. They include:
Hosting the roundtable will be:
The Defense Health Agency launched the first of four Ocular Trauma Centers, which will become primary hubs for the treatment of complex eye injuries and development of cutting-edge research programs.
Recommended Content:
Eye injury registry (DVEIVR) transforms data into usable information to help improve initial warfighter care and rehabilitation.
Recommended Content:
Have you ever heard that carrots are good for your eyes, or that they can help you see in the dark? It’s true – carrots are rich in the compound beta carotene, which your body uses to make a form of vitamin A that helps your eyes adjust in the dark. A shortage of vitamin A can cause a host of health problems, including blindness.
Recommended Content:
Helping service members – especially aviators – see clearly without glasses is key to military readiness.
Recommended Content:
Tips for protecting your hearing using the proper protection.
Recommended Content:
The Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence is hosting a combined Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE 2) and Progressive Return to Activity (PRA) clinical recommendation virtual training.
Recommended Content:
This clinical recommendation provides medical staff with a single, comprehensive reference for the assessment and management of dizziness and visual disturbances following mild TBI/concussion. Dizziness and visual disturbances often present with overlapping symptoms and should prompt a provider to perform a visual and dizziness—or vestibular—assessment.
Recommended Content:
Flier for the Interactive Relationship Building Workshop for Active-Duty Military and Veteran TBI Caregivers and Families: This flier provides information on TBICoE’s educational session for caregivers of active-duty service members and veterans who have sustained a TBI. In addition to sharing caregiver resources and current research initiatives, webinar topics will also include relationship building strategies, improving communication and addressing intimacy after TBI.
Recommended Content:
TBICoE is the Defense Department’s office of responsibility for tracking traumatic brain injury data in the U.S. military. Here you’ll find data on the number of active-duty service members—anywhere U.S. forces are located—with a first-time TBI diagnosis from calendar year 2000 through the second quarter of 2021. The data is also broken down by each branch of the armed services.
Recommended Content:
Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence’s 2021 Caregiver Guide provides specific tools to help caregivers manage TBI patient recovery.
Recommended Content:
Portable device can detect hearing loss in remote areas, clinic settings and beyond.
Recommended Content:
Aphasia is an incurable disease usually caused by stroke that affects all forms of communication.
Recommended Content:
Service Members and TBI: The Not So Invisible Wound
Recommended Content:
Vision care service coordinators support eye injury and vision loss patient recovery.
Recommended Content:
Retinopathy of Prematurity is a little-known disease with big risks.
Recommended Content:
Health.mil News
DHA Address: 7700 Arlington Boulevard | Suite 5101 | Falls Church, VA | 22042-5101
The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Defense Health Agency of non-U.S. Government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the Defense Health Agency may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for Department of Defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.