Panel, Conference Presentation
Advancing Critical Health Issues for Veterans
Milken InstituteJonathan Simons, Prudence Fisher, Isla Garraway, Deborah Lafer Scher, Earle Mack, Peter O'Rourke, Arock Bolanos, Christopher Seeley, Gary, Debra, Major Kent
- Development of a potential national model for civilian PTSD treatment and a new care platform through strategic partnerships, with an anticipated five-year MOU and $50 million in initial private funding to be finalized within three months.
- Implementation of an eight-week, once-weekly, 90-minute equine-assisted therapy protocol aiming to reduce depression and PTSD symptoms in veterans and improve grades for at-risk children, potentially targeting 60 to 70 patients per group in future randomized clinical trials.
- Establishment of a national network expanding from six to 15 centers of excellence to provide standardized tumor sequencing for all veterans undergoing prostate cancer biopsies, aiming for the same standard of care as top civilian institutions and securing durable remission for advanced disease.
- Expansion of precision medicine capabilities through a global genomic database from the Million Veterans program, enabling 800,000 annual telehealth visits serving 330,000 veterans, while leveraging industry partnerships like Comcast to extend internet access to rural and low-income populations.
- Creation of professionalized training frameworks, including digital field manuals and new nursing roles combining advanced practice with big data skills, to ensure reproducible results across teams and ground ad hoc programs in scientific knowledge.
- Deployment of biofeedback mechanisms where veterans regulate emotions and behavior as mirrored by calming horses, with data expectations significantly exceeding the 26% FDA response rate threshold and plans to seek NIH funding and major journal publication upon validation.
- Future clinical trials planned for breast and lung cancers once the prostate cancer network is fully established, alongside studies designed to screen all returning reservists and offer genome testing for those with advanced tumors to drive leading-edge cure research.
- Strategic utilization of public-private partnerships projected to generate $10 to $15 in private capital for every $1 of public funding, allowing the organization to leapfrog government constraints and secure a competitive advantage in genomic testing scale.
- Recognition of significant risks including the necessity for pilot data validation before applying for licenses, the requirement for expanded staff to review charts quickly for scaling genomic testing, and the complexity of managing long-term transitions for reservists returning multiple times.