In just the past year, they've been working on new, high-tech treatments for major health problems like cancer, severe hearing loss and genetic diseases like muscular dystrophy.
While the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, known as CDMRP, is not really a household name that is immediately familiar to many people in the military community, it is well known among medical researchers around the world.
The CDMRP is essentially a Department of Defense funding organization that has been a hub of cutting-edge healthcare innovation financing since the early 1990s and has impacted health care development inside and outside the military for decades.
"Certainly, when CDMRP research leads to Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment, it is a big win for the entire community," said Army Col. Sarah Goldman, CDMRP's director.
"Research from CDMRP's cancer programs alone has led to 18 FDA-approved drugs and devices that are currently being used, as well as significant changes in clinical practice."
Based at Fort Detrick, Maryland, the CDMRP is officially a part of the U.S. Army Futures Command, Medical Research and Development Command.
In just the last year, the FDA approved drugs developed through CDMRP-backed research to treat neurofibromatosis (a genetic disorder of the nervous system); Duchenne muscular dystrophy; and a blood cancer called multiple myeloma.
The CDMRP originated in 1992 via a single Congressional appropriation to encourage novel approaches to breast cancer research. Since then, it's grown to include funding for about 5,000 research projects investigating an array of medical issues.
"Our programs work hard to gather a lot of information to help identify research gaps and determine how to make key investments," Goldman said. "We gather different stakeholders at the table, to include representatives from the DOD. Many of our programs have NIH representation as well as experts from the VA (Veterans Administration) ... really all of the major federal and non-federal research funders. We also include scientists and clinical experts in a particular area, and it's extremely important that we have the consumer perspective at the table. Integrating consumers into CDMRP's panels is one of our hallmarks and their input is absolutely critical.
"Our programs conduct a funding landscape analysis, where we figure out what's been funded so far, and where the gaps are."
Teams then develop strategies on how to fill those research gaps. Certain funding mechanisms seek out "innovative, high-impact, high-risk, and high-gain projects, where we're willing to take a chance on some research" and where other agencies may not be willing to tread, Goldman said.
Some of the research may be exploratory in nature, she said. Sometimes reviewers of the research do not know who the principal investigator is, or even the organization behind it, to avoid bias toward some of the larger, more well-known performers.
"They can really focus on the idea, and help determine if it's innovative and potentially impactful or not," Goldman said.