Navywide Academic Research Competition Held at NMCSD

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anastasia Puscian, Naval Medical Center San Diego Public Affairs

May 19, 2010 - SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) hosted the 25th annual Navywide Academic Research Competition (ARC) May 14.

ARC winners from National Naval Medical Center, Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth staff competed for the win in the top two Navywide academic research categories: Approved Clinical Investigation Program (CIP) Research Resident and the CIP Research Staff.

"This is one [research] of the three main aspects that we are so proud of at this command; this is just a piece of what we do. Every day I am so amazed in the things that you do and are involved in besides your clinical practice. You are all winners in my eyes," said Commander, Naval Medical Center San Diego Christine M. Bruzek-Kohler.

The goal of ARCs is to stimulate research and clinical investigation that is relevant to military medicine and provide a forum for Navy medicine staff and residents

to present their research. It also provides an environment to improve patient care through

the advancement of Navy medicine.

"Research gives us the opportunity to advance the healing arts through careful observation, critical evaluation and scholarly study of the challenges we face around the world today," said Deputy Surgeon General, Rear Adm. Thomas R. Cullison.Keynote speaker for the event. "Navy medicine has their fair share of critics who ask us hard questions on what we do. Those critics we should relish, because they force us to answers questions in a way you are all doing in this research competition, to answer the questions that matter to us."

Army Capt. Frederick P. O'Brien, a doctor assigned to National Naval Medical Center won first place in the Approved Clinical Investigation Program (CIP) Research Resident-Level for his research on Heterotopic Ossification Formation In Complex Orthopedic Combat Wounds: Quantification And Characterization of Mesenchymal Stem/Progenitor Cell Activity In Traumatized Muscle.

Capt. David J. Tanzer, a doctor assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego won first place in CIP Research Staff-Level, for his research on Comparison Of Wavefront Guided PRK and Lasik.

"Our military clinicians and medical trainees are very adept at conducting science. Not only are they good in developing their clinical skills they are also very aggressive researchers. They have good minds and are seeking to answer pertinent questions," said Dr. Wayman W. Cheatham, special assistant to the surgeon general for Clinical Research and director, Clinical Investigation Programs, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Cheatham, Capt. Paul Pearigen, commanding officer, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton; and Capt. Greg Utz, commanding officer, Naval Health Research Center San Diego, made up the judging panel and after deliberation, selected the winners at the end of the competition.

"It was very hard to pick a winner, the scores were very close. We not only had rely on our the scores, but we had to discuss among ourselves the attributes of the

presentations and the quality of the presentations themselves. Any one of these competitors could have been chosen to be the winner of the category without any controversy what-so-ever among the judges, it just so happen we were able to arrive at a winner only on the basis of some very, very thin margins," said Cheatham.

The Army and Navy are the only Armed Services to hold Academic Research Competitions.