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The Military Health System Blog
Thursday, April 17, 2008 - Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine
Posted by:
S. Ward Casscells, M.D.
One of the best parts of my job as ASD is to announce good news stories, especially when it’s a benefit to not only Service Members, but to humankind. Today, with the Surgeon General of the Army Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) was announced. Regenerative medicine is futuristic, leading-edge medicine, not only from a scientific standpoint, but from the view of aiding humankind in general.
I envision that this tool will be used beyond the battlefield into our everyday lives. This makes research that originated in the Military Health System not only a way to survive and live productive lives, but developments in regenerative medicine have a promise to enable us to lead life as though no injury had occurred.
 The ability to replace a limb will not happen overnight. In five years I see the functional regeneration of fingers and toes that will hopefully lead to larger efforts, but we don’t know what the future holds. With a concentrated effort by researchers at AFIRM, we can’t envision the possibilities, we can only work toward goals built on the architecture of today’s knowledge.
The discoveries yet to be made at AFIRM will add to the long list of MHS research successes. Researchers in the MHS were instrumental in the discovery of the cause of yellow fever and have made advances in modern burn care, blood transfusions and blood banking as well as chest surgery, ultrasound, digital imaging, psychiatric diagnosis, group therapy, and many other advances.
Of course, I can’t forget the obvious creation by MHS researchers, the life saving Aeromedical Evacuation.
The AFIRM is truly a joint effort from the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the Office of Naval Research the Air Force Office of the Surgeon General, the National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration. I am grateful for the cooperation of these agencies’ dedicated researchers and their staff.
Posted at
2008-04-17 17:55:03
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