Courtesy Photo | U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ryan Cannon, Air Force Health Study noncommissioned officer...... read more read more
The Department of Air Force transferred more than 178,000 biological samples from Vietnam and Korean War veterans to the Department of Veterans Affairs in August, concluding an 18-year effort to safeguard them for future studies.
The samples, previously stored at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, are now housed at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System’s West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
For nearly two decades, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing has been responsible for housing the biospecimens as they worked with the VA and Vietnam Veterans for America to identify a biorepository best suited to not only preserve the specimens, but one that was poised to promote future research.
Dr. David Beenhouwer, VAGLAHS Principal Investigator and member of VA SHIELD, acknowledged the effort.
“We worked very closely with the Air Force as well as Vietnam Veterans of America and other key stakeholders to make sure that we brought this collection back to active scientific use,” Beenhouwer said. “We have all the new technologies available to us now to really help us understand other disease conditions …. We want to make sure that this is a resource, not just for Los Angeles, but for the entire research community.”
Under the VA’s Office of Research and Development’s Military Exposures Research Program and VA SHIELD, Air Force personnel and the VAGLAHS research study team prepared the biospecimens for transfer and digitized the associated clinical data over a three-week period in August.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Latasha Johnson, 711 HPW Air & Space Biosciences Division director of operations, has helped coordinate the transfer since 2022. She said completing it was meaningful for her and to the veteran community.
“It’s a great 360 moment to be part of this because I have a grandfather who was in the Vietnam War,” she said. “Being able to say that he was a part of this research study, along with other veterans, encouraged us to see this through. This will enable the continued investigation and utilization of these essential assets in research pertaining to veterans’ health.”
Advocacy to preserve biospecimens, supporting veterans’ health
Former VVA national president Jack McManus is a Vietnam veteran who dispensed Agent Orange herbicides during Operation Ranch Hand participated in the AFHS. He has been a strong advocate to preserve the biospecimens and for continued toxic exposure research to support affected veterans and their families.
“The Ranch Hand study participants agreed and signed off that the data and research would be used for however long [the specimens] had value for research,” he said. “This effort for the last six years is to have the specimens and the data … kept open for further research to help identify the effects of the Agent Orange on those people that were exposed, but also for the generations that followed.”
For Brenda Pollock, a VA SHIELD clinical research coordinator and retired Air Force medic who assisted in digitizing and organizing the AFHS biospecimens at VAGLAHS - this multi-entity and decades-long effort was personal.
“These particular samples really mean a lot to me because my brother-in-law was in Vietnam,” she said. “He was exposed to Agent Orange, and he has Parkinson’s [Disease] …. Without research like this, they would have never known that that was the cause of it. Now the VA is taking care of him 100%, whereas before, he was on his own.”
Pollock served and deployed during Operation Desert Storm along with her husband whom she said has been experiencing respiratory problems. Though the AFHS assets focus on toxic herbicide exposure, she credited the biorepository’s research value for shedding light on pursuing adjacent research into other existing health hazards – fueling advancements in treatments and improving care for generations of veterans and service members.
The unique nature of the biospecimens and implications for future research
Future studies will continue to draw on the AFHS, advancing public health for years to come.
“It’s a comprehensive study that probably could never be replicated again,” McManus emphasized. “The value of it is unbelievable. Where you could get a group of people that had that level of exposure and cohort groups that had no exposure to do a study over such an extended period of time?”
According to Dr. Rudy Johnson, director of VA’s MERP, future AFHS research depends on sustained funding and management, as well as increased awareness of its value within the scientific community.
“The biorepository provides a unique opportunity to investigate scientific understanding of conditions beyond the initial purpose of the study,” he said. “As research emerges from these assets, new insights into immunology and precision medicine could contribute to medical advancements that extend beyond the military.”
The VAGLAHS research study team aims to have enough biospecimens properly labeled and digitized to receive research applications by November 2025.
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2025 07:06 |
| Story ID: | 549402 |
| Location: | FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
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This work, Air Force, VA preserve vital Vietnam, Korean War veteran biospecimens for future study, by Maristela Romero, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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