The Defense Health Agency (DHA) Research and Development Directorate released a grant opportunity to support research aimed at improving health care and military readiness within the Military Health System.
The Military Health System Research Program’s (MHSRP) Notice of Funding Opportunity amplifies how DHA is a learning organization committed to fostering high-value research that supports better care, better health, and increased readiness, with lower costs.
First established in 2019, the program provides funding for competitive intramural and extramural research awards. Prior awardees focused include: Dartmouth College, Pennsylvania State University, Brown University, Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Health Research Center, and the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research.
The most important lesson for Navy Lt. Victoria Selkirk during a recent two-week leadership course at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (MCMWTC) was that learning about cold-weather training in a lab or clinic is very different from experiencing cold-weather training.
“When I consider the basic nutritional aspects of someone who is working or training in cold weather, generally what I’m thinking of is two components: hydration and energy intake,” said Selkirk, a registered dietician and combined food service department head at Navy Medicine and Training Command Twentynine Palms at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California. “Both of those are really important to ensure your safety and your well-being, and also in making sure you have enough energy to perform in whatever capacity is needed.”
If ever a New Year’s Day brought a need for the reset button, it was January 1, 2021. Last year was wrought with a fatal and global pandemic, financial chaos, political bedlam, and wide social upheaval.
Maintaining physical, mental, and spiritual health over the past year has been just as much of a challenge for our Service members as it has for the population as a whole, according to numerous experts.
So, it makes sense that from a military standpoint, the concept of Total Force Fitness (TFF) has been in need of a re-introduction as we sail into February, with the promises of new COVID-19 vaccines and the peril of new strains of the virus. The TFF concept reconsiders what it means to be healthy beyond the typical focus on physical fitness and nutrition. It looks at the “whole self” and the aspects of overall health key to performance and battle-readiness.