Bethesda, Maryland, July 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Warfighters often encounter and provide medical care to wounded civilians, including children. When service members deploy, they expect that their loved ones are receiving the best medical care possible in their absence. A healthy family enables deployed service members to focus on the task at hand.

Pediatric care is crucial to overall force readiness and has connections to a number of Department of Defense (DoD) objectives. When service members deploy, they expect that their loved ones are receiving the best medical care possible in their absence. A healthy family enables deployed service members to focus on the task at hand. Furthermore, warfighters often encounter and provide medical care to wounded civilians, including children. The DoD also takes part in a number of humanitarian missions in which the delivery of pediatric medical care is critical.

A new cooperative agreement awarded to The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF) seeks to ensure the Military Health System (MHS) has the best tools possible for pediatric care. The Research Accelerating Military Pediatrics (RAMP) program is a five-year cooperative agreement between HJF and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) to improve the lives of children.

Dr. Patrick Hickey, Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Pediatrics at USU, is the principal investigator on the cooperative agreement that will transform the USU Department of Pediatrics to achieve the following objectives: 

• Align research programs to DoD needs and priorities while never losing sight of the need to improve the lives of children.
• Generate products and translate knowledge to inform the practice of medicine, shape health policy and reduce the burden of disease in all members of the military and children across the globe.
• Achieve long-term self-sufficiency through extramural funding or Program Objective Memorandums earned by scientific excellence.
• Support USU’s national network of faculty supporting multicenter research programs by leveraging the size, diversity and reach of the MHS.
• Recruit, educate and retain clinicians and scientists prepared to meet MHS needs today and in the future with the USU educational mission at the core.

According to Hickey, pediatric care is crucial for overall force readiness. Warfighters often have to treat children on the battlefield, humanitarian missions nearly always involve pediatric treatment. This cooperative agreement will help ensure that the MHS is offering the best care to children and young adults now and into the future.

The program also seeks to bridge connections between various military and private partners conducting medical research related to pediatric care. By doing so, RAMP seeks to leverage the skills and findings of these groups to benefit military children and pediatric medicine more broadly.

Hickey and his team are eager to get to work, with the goal of aligning pediatric research with DoD needs and improving the lives of children of service members and throughout the global community.

About HJF: The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF) is a global nonprofit organization with the mission to advance military medicine. HJF’s scientific, administrative and program operations services empower investigators, clinicians, and medical researchers around the world to make discoveries in all areas of medicine. With more than 35 years of experience, HJF serves as a trusted and responsive link between the military medical community, federal and private partners, and the millions of warfighters, veterans, and civilians who benefit from military medicine. For more information, visit hjf.org.

Attachments

• RAMPrelease2
• RAMPrelease (1)

Gary Pettit
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
2406942104
gpettit@hjf.org