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Defense Health Agency personnel received two awards in the 25th Department of War CIO Annual Awards Program for achievements within the chief information officer capabilities to develop vital tools that support service members and veterans.
Richard Edwards, program manager for the Clinical Support Program Management Office at DHA, received the individual Bronze Award. The Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record Program Management Office earned the Team Gold Award, with Cmdr. Raben B. Talvo leading the team as product officer.
Honoring award recipients at a Pentagon ceremony Feb. 23, 2026, the annual program hosted individuals and teams from across DOW with achievements in digital modernization, cybersecurity, and information technology-enabled mission support.
Edwards’ work directly supports readiness and care
In his role, Edwards manages systems and transactions that shape everyday care and readiness decisions across the Military Health System, with a robust portfolio including tools tracking toxic exposures, managing occupational health, and supporting military medical planners in making faster decisions.
“Across 16 enterprise systems and millions of transactions, Ric Edwards has delivered far more than digital modernization — he’s built a warfighter-focused, future-ready ecosystem,” said Patrick Flanders, DHA chief information officer.
Flanders highlighted several milestones under Edwards’ leadership, including enabling the first self-service ILER access for active duty service members and guiding the largest Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System-Industrial Hygiene release on record. Those efforts, he said, show how Edwards “empowers his team to grow, think creatively, and lead with purpose.”
As program manager, Edwards helped push major improvements in exposure and occupational health tools. ILER now tracks more than 33 million toxic exposures and will offer a way for active duty service members to review their exposure histories.
Flanders said Edwards’ work improved transparency around toxic exposures, streamlined patient safety reporting, strengthened occupational health surveillance across the force, and reinforced cybersecurity and resilience.
“His work directly supports the readiness and care of hundreds of thousands of service members, while enabling cost savings, cybersecurity excellence, and enterprise resilience,” Flanders said.
Edwards said the award reflects the broader progress underway across DHA.
“Being recognized with this award shines a spotlight on the innovation and advancement taking place at the DHA,” Edwards said. “I am exceptionally proud of the real-world outcomes I have been able to help deliver … we strive to be a premier provider of enterprise information, simulation, technology, and medical devices acquisition program management solutions to enhance medical readiness and health care delivery.”
Edwards attributed the accomplishments to his team, “comprised of mission-focused people who think critically and solve challenges creatively.”
“I am privileged to work with a highly skilled, innovative, and empowered team of military and civilian personnel assigned to the DHA,” he said.
Flanders noted Edwards’ efforts “have helped to optimize systems that enable warfighter readiness and to modernize DHA’s information technology systems to maximize support to the joint force.”
ILER team turns exposure data into a mission enabler
The DHA ILER Program Management Office received the Team Gold Award for improving how the department tracks, understands, and responds to environmental and occupational exposures over a service member’s career.
“We are very proud to represent how DHA is striving every day to fulfill its readiness mission through IT innovation,” Talvo said. “The advancements we have made with ILER are just one example of how DHA is modernizing IT systems to maximize support to the joint force and leveraging business intelligence, technology, and innovation to streamline operations.”
ILER links a person’s service history, deployments, garrison assignments, and individual monitoring data with environmental exposures and health outcomes in a single system. The tool supports more than 11.9 million service members and veterans. It also gives leaders a near-real-time view of potential long-term health risks.
“The ILER team has made visible what was once hidden and disparate, putting lifesaving information into the hands of those who need it most,” Flanders said. “They have turned exposure data into a mission enabler for clinicians, commanders, and veterans alike.”
ILER usage rose 20% across all combatant commands, which Flanders said helped establish it as an operational standard for exposure data across both the DOW and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Flanders also credited the team with major savings. By streamlining current infrastructure and support, the team achieved an estimated $40 million in cost avoidance while improving reliability and speed. The team’s performance sets “a new benchmark for scalable, secure, sustainable health data systems” and strengthens operational readiness and care delivery for exposed service members, he said.
The recognition highlights the role DHA’s teams have in the DOW’s digital modernization efforts. As the MHS continues to modernize, Flanders said these DHA professionals help protect service members throughout their careers and after they leave uniform.
For DHA’s IT workforce, the 2025 DOW CIO awards underscore technical performance and a focus on readiness, transparency, and trust for those who serve.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.30.2026 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 561535 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Program management professionals recognized for fulfilling military medical readiness mission through IT innovation, by Robert Hammer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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