U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command: Science to Soldier

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, Md., is comprised of an intricate network of organizations and research stations with a common vision in sight: to be the world’s experts and leaders in the military biomedical research and medical materiel communities, delivering the best medical solutions to enhance, protect, treat and heal war fighters.

The USAMRMC is the Army’s medical materiel developer, with the lead agency responsibility for medical research, development and acquisition, medical logistics management, medical information management/information technology and medical health facility planning.

History

The United States Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) was created in 1958 with several different subordinate commands that have since been shuffled around, detached, closed or continue to contribute significantly to the USAMRMC mission, which is to “provide medical knowledge and materiel lifecycle management to protect, treat and optimize war fighter health and performance across the full spectrum of operations.”

While the early years at USAMRDC were focused on military medical research, this transformed in 1994 to include full military medical life-cycle support not just for research, but for logistic support and delivery of products to U.S. forces anywhere in theater or in garrison.

This reorganization improved the Army Medical Command’s ability to prevent illness and injury in deploying forces, to equip the Army's medics to provide the best possible combat casualty care, and to ensure medical logistics systems that enhance medical readiness. The reorganization structured the command to manage the medical materiel acquisition program in support of the Army of the 21st century, thus creating the USAMRMC as it is known today.

Commands

USAMRMC is the parent organization which houses six medical laboratories and eight supporting organizations scattered across the country. There are three critical area programs that function within USAMRMC: Research and Technology Program; Advanced Development Program and the Medical Logistics Program.

The six medical laboratories are focused mainly on science and technology research to create medical solutions on the battlefield. The eight MRMC supporting organizations focus on other areas such as medical materiel development and logistics, facilities and Congressional special interest programs.

Breaking it down even further, within the several commands are a variety of programs designed to harness specific information and address certain capability areas of research. These programs include the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (MIDRP); Combat Casualty Care Research Program (CCCRP); Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP); Medical Biological Defense Research Program (MBDRP); Medical Chemical Defense Research Program (MCDRP); Blast Injury Research Program (BIRP); Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine research program; as well as a slew of Congressional special interest (CSI) programs.

CSI programs are specialized programs that Congress warrants as top priority in order to fulfill the organization’s mission and vision. The Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) is the governing body that oversees the CSI research programs related to DoD or Army R&D programs and advanced technology work. The Military Amputee Research Program is just one example of a CSI. Through this program, researchers probe advancements in clinical management, prosthetic technology, and rehabilitation techniques.

Continued Research

While USAMRMC carries out strictly military medical research as described above with the Military Amputee Research Program, much of what is being studied and understood directly carries over into the civilian population as well.

Currently the USAMRMC is part of a consortium of facilities, including Johns Hopkins Medical Center and several other research institutions, which, for example, are conducting orthopedic research. This initiative and several other efforts are keeping USAMRMC at the forefront of medical research, not only that which affects the military population, but research that can likewise benefit the civilian world.

Most recently, USAMRMC has been instrumental in the breaking research which has yielded two investigational vaccines against the HIV virus. In 2003, the U.S. Army Surgeon General sponsored the world's largest HIV vaccine trial in Thailand that tested a "prime-boost" vaccine strategy.

Results of the trial show that the vaccine regime is safe and 31.2 percent effective at preventing the HIV infection. Coordination for the trial was lead by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, centered at the Division of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, a subordinate command of the USAMRMC.

The trial was conducted by the Thai Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with a team of leading Thai and U.S. researchers. This is a prime testament to the fact that military/non-military collaboration can be in the best interest of all parties involved. USAMRMC continues to lead the way to providing the research and tools needed for a healthy, resilient force.

For more information regarding USAMRMC and its related commands, please visit its Web site at https://mrmc.amedd.army.mil.

By Rob Anastasio | FHP&R Staff Writer