Army Operational Medicine Research
Program
Novel Biomedical technologies are continuously under
investigation by the military to monitor the
physiological status of soldiers during training under extreme
environmental conditions as well as in battlefield. An
assortment of these technologies, referred to as physiological
monitoring systems, involve continuous monitoring of key
physiological parameters, command-control consultation, data
transmittal, display and data storage using a combination of
sophisticated biomedical systems, medical information storage,
electronic imaging systems, telecommunication and data
analysis.
Dr. Rao was the principal
scientist and project manager at SAIC Biomedical Sciences Group,
responsible for providing highly specialized technical support for the
U.S. Army's Operational Medicine Research Program on ambulatory
physiological monitoring systems.
Activities under this
project spanning over a three-year period (1995-1998), involved extensive
technology assessment and prioritization of R&D for research to
identify physiological measurements and environmental
conditions that best describe the medical/physiological status of a
soldier.
Dr. Rao's group supported
technical assessment document and workgroup meeting support on an
assortment of biomedical technologies for inclusion in the
physiological monitoring system.
Apart from routine
monitoring of physiological status, Dr. Rao's team examined several
candidate technologies capable of predicting in advance the
potential risk of injury/stress associated with activities
involving exposure to environmental stress factors.
As part of this
initiative, Dr. Rao was instrumental in coordinating the joint
technology assessment initiative between MRMC and FEMA in the area of emergency
medicine, with a particular focus on the applications of emerging
technologies in combat casualty care and operational medicine
program.
Dr. Rao has organized
several expert panel meetings and participated and contributed as
an expert in technology evaluation and assessment for physiological
monitoring systems for a variety of environmental and operational
stress factors.
Dr. Rao was the
representative (1996-97) of the Director, Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP)
at the Federal Interagency Committee on
Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS). FICEMS serves
as a forum to establish and facilitate effective communications and
coordination between and among Federal departments and agencies
involved in activities related to EMS.
Melatonin Phamacological
Review
Among a host of pharmacological intervention
strategies examined by the US Army Operational Medicine
Research Program, Melatonin was one of the more interesting
candidates.
Touted as the ideal
soporific agent with high potentials for use in military
environment, Melatonin was extensively investigated for
additional development. Dr. Rao's team examined over
1,250 studies published between 1970 and 1995 on the biomedical
literature to support decision on pharmaceutical agent's
development for sleep resynchorinization in
soldiers.
The review covered the scientific
literature on the pharmacology and metabolic fate of Melatonin,
its demonstrated efficacy as a resychorinization agent and safety
and possible adverse interactions with other endogenous or
exogenous substances.
The decision review
literature together with the database and customized search engine was
one of the most extensive reviews to date.
Caffeine Pharmacological
Review
Caffeine was the candidate examined the Operational Medicine
Research Program for development as an intervention agent to
attenuate sleep-awake cycles in soldiers who have endured
stressful exercise over an extended period of time with minimal
sleep.
Caffeine
(1,3,7-trimethylxanthine), the principal active ingredient in
coffee is the most commonly ingested substance in the United
States. Dr. Rao reviewed over 800 published studies on the
pharmacological and toxicological effects of caffeine and its
potential to modify sleep, circadian rhythm, and behavior in
humans.
Deployment Toxicology
Protection of deployed military personnel from potential exposure
to toxic and hazardous chemicals is a major challenge for the
military medical research community and command leadership.
Operational environments are becoming more dangerous across the
entire range of deployment mission, irrespective of whether it is
for peace keeping or combat operations. Exposure of deployed
personnel to hazardous substances due to inadequate environmental
protection in the area(s) of operation, accidents, and
sabotage.
Dr. Rao supported the deployment toxicology research workgroup,
which serves as the framework for collaborative interaction within
DOD, with other government agencies, academia and private
sector.
Dr. Rao's team
supported development of a conceptual framework and identified
participating entities for the DTRWG, designed and developed the DTRWG website, and
established a web-based data collection, generation of query, and
reporting system for the program R&D assessment, and deployment
toxicology website content management.
Dr Rao directed the
content selection and management and integrated priority R&D
areas identified by the DTRWG in the areas of health risk
assessment, medical materiel solutions, risk characterization, new
models development, validation and field testing, and risk
communication.
Medical Emergency First
Response System
DynCorp developed a web-enabled early warming system termed, Homeland
Incidence Response Tracking System, or HIRTS for short that
uses the public communications infrastructure to report, chemical,
biological, radiological, nuclear and conventional incidence.
Dr. Rao was part of the HIRTS team since its inception. He
was involved in the development of the conceptual framework for the
early warning system and led the development of decision
systems for chemical-biological incidence detection and
identification. Since HIRTS system was configured to allow a variety
reporting options for first responders and the decision tree
was so designed to meet the reporting options.
Dr. Rao was the DynCorp key senior scientist in the concept
formulation and identification of other systems for
chemical-biological incidence detection identification and
geographic representation of the data from passive sensor-based as
well as active reporting mechanisms.
Biodefense Vaccine Safety/Hazard
Assessment
DynPort Vaccine Company LLC (DVC), a DynCorp joint venture,
is a leader in the advanced development of vaccines and other
countermeasures against bio-warfare agents. The biotechnology
development activities include process refinement, cGMP production,
pre-clinical testing, clinical studies and regulatory submission
related activities.
Biosafety and environmental affairs of facilities involved in the
program are critical to the program success. Dr. Rao is
involved in the leadership role on the biosafety and environmental
affairs of this major program since inception (1998). In this
capacity, he and his team are involved in every aspect of biosafety
and environmental regulatory requirement for the entire program
with seven active vaccine projects currently underway.
He oversaw the development of the DVC's standard operating
procedures for shipping CDC Select Agents for program wide
application
As part of this effort, Dr. Rao and his team publish a monthly
update (Biosafety and Environmental Affairs
Update) on the latest scientific and regulatory developments in
biosafety, Biosecurity, occupational health and bioterrorism
preparedness.
So far three volumes (1-3) of the Update covering 35 numbers have
been published.
