Photo By Megan Mudersbach | Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-Dayton) research is executed by highly...... read more read more
By: Erica Jones, Public Affairs, Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton
Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-Dayton) research is executed by highly qualified individuals with unique capabilities and professional backgrounds, including Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) participants supporting the command.
IPA participants occupy a unique space at NAMRU-Dayton, merging the resources, expertise, and experience of outside academic partners and collaborators with those of the Department of Defense (DoD). A unique aspect of IPAs is that they are permitted to serve as principal investigators (PIs) on scientific studies conducted at the command. Their roles allow them to manage projects as well as money, giving them a degree of autonomy that fosters a more seamless partnership between NAMRU-Dayton and our collaborators. Four of our researchers have IPA status and each have their own perspective on the value of the program.
Drs. Valarie Schroeder and Jeffrey Phillips were previously employed as government civilians at NAMRU-Dayton before accepting other positions. At present, both work with the command remotely, representing NAMRU-Dayton in their current workplaces and communities, while collaborating on projects that fall under the umbrella of our research mission.
At the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), Dr. Phillips, a research psychologist, and NAMRU-Dayton plank owner, one of the original scientists who established the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL), sees tremendous value in his role as an IPA.
“Naval Air Station Pensacola is home to many of NAMRU-Dayton’s customers and stakeholders. NAMRU-Dayton’s location in Dayton, Ohio has established a productive link with the Air Force, but it has limited our interaction with these customers in Pensacola,” said Dr. Phillips. “The IPA allows me to represent NAMRU-Dayton to these customers. From this location, I get access and insight from operators, flight surgeons, operational physiologists, and other Navy personnel who serve Navy personnel.”
For Dr. Schroeder, who transitioned from government civilian to contractor with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine to her current role as an IPA, the program and her time at NAMRU-Dayton are interconnected.
“The main opportunity offered to me as an IPA is the ability to be a principal investigator on a project. In our career, this is a great opportunity,” said Dr. Schroeder.
“I have had the wonderful opportunity to be mentored by two of NAMRU-Dayton's senior research psychologists, Drs. Lynn Caldwell and Michael Reddix. Dr. Caldwell and Dr. Reddix have guided me in research design and execution as a junior psychologist. They have mentored me in all steps of the research process, from writing white papers and proposals, to protocol writing, financial management, and project execution and management,” said Dr. Schroeder.
The command’s additional IPAs, Drs. Daniel Merfeld, Elizabeth Damato and Michael Decker, join us from academic institutions.
Dr. Merfeld is a professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSU) in the department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and serves as the senior vestibular scientist at NAMRU-Dayton. The partnership between OSU and the command provides him access not only to world-class research facilities including the Disorientation Research Device (DRD), also known as the Kraken and the Visual Vestibular Spherical Device (VVSD), but to a different group of people as well.
“From strictly a utilitarian perspective, being an IPA participant opens funding opportunities that allow me to contribute my basic science skills and expertise to military problems,” said Dr. Merfeld. “I consider it an honor…to help the military save pilots’ lives by working to improve our understanding of spatial disorientation and its impact on aircraft accidents.”
Speaking on the opportunities the program provides, Dr. Merfeld remarks,“ [Through the IPA program] I have had the unique opportunity to collaborate with outstanding NAMRU-Dayton scientists with broadly varying interests ranging from spatial disorientation to human performance.”
For other IPAs, the program provides not only reciprocal access to different facilities and devices, but also the ability to share information with interested parties and compare and contrast different processes.
“My eyes were opened to a field of new opportunities,” said Dr. Damato, an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and senior research physiologist at NAMRU-Dayton. “Although I was aware that the DoD funded external investigators, I was not aware of the fleet of scientists that were directly employed by the military as civilian scientists.”
She has leveraged her role as an IPA to pass along information to her students to help increase awareness of scientific opportunities at NAMRU-Dayton and propel the pipeline for qualified researchers to embark upon a career in military research.
“Our research also provides the vehicle to engage other university faculty members who are hoping to also support NAMRU-Dayton’s mission,” said Dr. Damato.
Dr. Decker, associate professor and colleague of Dr. Damato at Case Western Reserve University and neuroscientist supporting NAMRU-Dayton, also values the unique opportunities the IPA program provides.
“Our collaborations with aviators and personnel who work in extreme high altitude environments and visit our lab to participate in studies, provide unique insights into physiologic challenges imposed by austere environments,” said Dr. Decker. “Until joining NAMRU-Dayton, those collaborations did not exist.”
Whether they come from an academic or commercial background, the IPAs infuse new ideas and experiences into the military milieu while enjoying the opportunities that NAMRU-Dayton offers to implement those ideas within environments not typically accessible to non-DoD scientists. Though they make up a small percentage of the command, the IPA participants provide significant value to both NAMRU-Dayton and their home institutions, and each play a vital role in moving the command’s research mission forward.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2019 17:45 |
| Story ID: | 319170 |
| Location: | WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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