Lawmakers call for in-depth VA study on blast pressure injuries

Way past due!
Rich

What's noteworthy about the article is the apparent lack of knowledge our lawmakers have in what research was conducted/is occurring regarding 'repetitive low-level blast exposure' of military servicemembers, which governmental entities are conducting that research, and what our lawmakers have done in the past in regards to that research.

One would assume they would at least task a staffer to spend a few minutes to look into it prior to attempting to reinvent the wheel. If so, they would have found out that the DoD and VA have been hip-deep in researching this aspect for many years.

Both the Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence* (TBICoE) and DoD's Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office* (BIRCO) are currently conducting (in addition to the ones already finished) multi-year longitudinal studies on occupational blast exposure, repetitive mild TBI, etc.

(Full disclosure - I've worked with the TBICoE and BIRCO before, so I have a step up in familiarity with what they do and who they partner with, but most of this could probably be discovered with less than 10 minutes of internet searching)

What's unique about the bill* Moran and King are putting forth is that it tasks the VA to partner specifically with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

If nothing else, you would hope someone would point out that the TBICoE is finishing up a 15-year TBI study to Congress (due in 2025) which addresses many of the items in the bill or at least the more recent DoD Warfighter Brain Health Initiative* which was the result of the 2018 NDAA.
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* Precision Brain Health Research Act of 2024 - https://www.veterans.senate.gov/services/files/5608F625-AEBF-49F3-86CD-31B66E939729
* TBICoE - In 1992, the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) was established as a integrated partnership between DoD and the VA primarily to address the concerns that brain injury care was fragmented within DoD and for veterans after separation from the military. The name has been changed to the Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence* (TBICoE), but it remains as a Congressionally mandated collaboration between DoD and the VA - https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Centers-of-Excellence/Traumatic-Brain-Injury-Center-of-Excellence
* BIRCO - In 2007, DoD established the Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office (BIRCO) within AMRDC to coordinate DOD-sponsored biomedical research programs aimed at preventing, mitigating, and treating blast-related injuries throughout DoD and with other federal agencies - https://blastinjuryresearch.health.mil/
* 15-Year Longitudinal Study on TBI (2007 NDAA) - https://health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Centers-of-Excellence/Traumatic-Brain-Injury-Center-of-Excellence/Research/15-Year-Longitudinal-Study
* DoD Warfighter Brain Health Initiative - Strategy and Action Plan - https://media.defense.gov/2022/Aug/24/ [login to see] /-1/-1/0/DOD-WARFIGHTER-BRAIN-HEALTH-INITIATIVE-STRATEGY-AND-ACTION-PLAN.PDF