United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

The USARIEM logo
Active 1961–present
Country  United States of America
Branch  United States Army
Type Medical R&D Command
Role Military medical research and development
Garrison/HQ U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts, USA.

The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) is the U.S Army’s main institution and facility for military environmental medicine and exercise physiology research. It is located at Natick, Massachusetts, within the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center (SSC) installation, but is a subordinate lab of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA.

Mission

USARIEM’s Mission Statement mandates that the Institute:

Provide solutions to enhance Warfighter health and performance through medical research.

The Institute has four divisions, each relating to military human performance as it relates to the environment — Biophysical and Biomedical Modeling, Military Nutrition, Military Performance, and Thermal and Mountain Medicine. Research in the divisions focuses on three elements: the servicemember (acclimation; body size; gender; race; age; health; hydration; nutrition; fitness; and sleep status), the environment (temperature; wind; humidity; and altitude), and the mission (work — intensity, duration, and type; clothing and equipment; and medications).

Research on the effect of environmental pollutants on military personnel is not part of USARIEM's mission, but is within the purview of the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

History

USARIEM traces its institutional lineage back to 1927 and the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory. That facility fostered two institutions that ultimately merged. The first was the Climatic Research Laboratory in Lawrence, MA (1943–54), which relocated to Natick in 1954 under the new name of the Environmental Protection Research Division (EPRD) of the U.S. Army’s Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command. The second was the Armored Medical Research Laboratory (AMRL) at Fort Knox, KY (1942–61) elements of which joined with the EPRD in 1961 to constitute the present USARIEM facility and organization.

Products and capabilities

USARIEM’s basic and applied research capabilities are focused upon biomedical evaluations, health hazard assessments, countermeasures development and a rapid response to a diverse range of environmental threats and problems. Products include individual soldier equipment and rations; guidelines pertaining to training policy and preventive medicine; and performance monitoring strategies and predictive algorithms.

Research Divisions

Research divisions within USARIEM consist of Biophysics and Biomedical Modeling (which develops biomedical models to simulate effects of heat, cold, high altitude, hydration, nutritional status and clothing systems and equipment), Military Performance (which researches performance enhancements [physical, cognitive, behavioral, psychomotor] in military occupational tasks), Military Nutrition (which researches nutritional issues, including new rations, affecting servicemembers), and Thermal and Mountain Medicine (which researches physical and cognitive work capabilities and medical problems associated with military operations at high terrestrial altitude or temperature extremes).

Facilities

USARIEM maintains several unique or highly specialized facilities:

Off site:

List of USARIEM commanders

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Number Tenure Commander
1 1961–1962 CPT Robert J.T. Joy, MD
2 1962–1965 LTC William H. Hall, MD
3 1965–1971 COL James E. Hansen, MD
4 1971–1976 COL LeeRoy G. Jones, MD
5 1976–1980 COL Harry G. Dangerfield, MD
6 1980–1982 COL Eliot J. Pearlman, MD
7 1982–1984 COL Ernest M. Irons, Jr., MD
8 1984–1986 COL Brendon E. Joyce, MD
9 1986–1989 COL David D. Schnakenberg, PhD
10 1989–1990 COL Joseph C. Denniston, DVM
11 1990–1994 COL Gerald P. Krueger, PhD
12 1994–1997 COL Joel T. Hiatt, MS
13 1997–2000 COL David M. Penetar, PhD
14 2000–2003 COL John P. Obusek, PT, PhD
15 2003–2006 COL Karl E. Friedl, PhD
16 2006-2008 COL Beau J. Freund, PhD
17 2008-2010 COL Kevin Keenan, M.D., M.P.H.
18 2010-2012 COL Gaston P. Bathalon, RD, PhD
19 2012–2014 COL Deborah L. Whitmer, D.V.M.
20 2014-2016 COL Thomas G. Eccles III, M.D.
21 2016-present COL Raymond Phua, tDPT

See also

References

  1. ↑ DeGroot DW, Devine JA, Fulco CS (September 2003). "Incidence of adverse reactions from 23,000 exposures to simulated terrestrial altitudes up to 8900 m". Aviat Space Environ Med. 74 (9): 994–7. PMID 14503681. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  2. ↑ Forte, V (2003). "Water Immersion and Re-Warming Facility of the Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division.". US Army Research Inst. of Environmental Medicine Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division Technical Report (USARIEM–TN03–04). Retrieved 2008-09-30.
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