Author: Dr. Venkat Rao, Chief Scientist

September 27, 2022

Laurel, MD – ERP International, LLC (ERP) participated in the 2022 Military Health Systems Research Symposium (MHSRS), a preeminent annual scientific meeting attended by the Nation’s leading military medical researchers and research partners from the academia and industry.

ERP has a legacy of support services to the military medical treatment facilities and research support services to combat casualty care and operational medicine research program. Melvin Petty, CEO of ERP led the company team attending the MHSRS, which included Rick Starrs, Vice President for Medical Research and Materiel and Dr. Venkat Rao, Chief Scientist at ERP.

The organizing theme for the MHSRS 2022 was, “Optimizing Readiness—The Power of Military Medical Research” to highlight accomplishments of the military medical research on pre-deployment readiness, access to biomedical technologies to support combat casualty and care, and post-deployment medical care and rehabilitation. The Symposium provided a collaborative environment for the military researchers working jointly with academic scientists, industry partners and other federal government agencies on a wide range of military-relevant topics such as combat casualty care, military operational medicine, clinical and rehabilitative medicine, military infectious diseases, and radiation health effects.

A key topic connecting much of the technical research presentations and panel discussions at the MHSRS was combat centered trauma and pointedly on the traumatic brain injury (TBI) related challenges that spans military and the border civilian communities. TBI, often is referred to as “signature wound” of service members return from active battlefield deployments was the prominent investigative area covered in the over 65 parallel breakout sessions and 1,300 poster presentations. Presentations broadly covered the state of the science, ongoing advanced research on trauma-related diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers, and innovations in patient care and clinical research to enable rapid development and insertion of medical material solutions to meet Warfighter needs. Infectious diseases research and development of novel diagnostic and medical countermeasures was another domain area of the Symposium with robust contributions from academic researchers and military medical research facilities.

Research studies reporting promising future developments were in the emerging precision medicine-enabled approaches to distinguish levels of injury, injury characteristics, biomarkers such as Tau protein, biofluid injury biomarkers of TBI, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) enabled TBI detection platforms. Medical support staffing requirements assessments was presented through a systematic application of an Enterprise-level approach in trauma level designation at the military treatment facilities (MTF) to determine gaps and requirements of medical subspecialties and other associated medical support staff at different levels of MTF trauma care centers.

Multiple presentations from military medical laboratories and academia indicated the priorities placed on TBI and other combat-related injuries to the Warfighter. Researchers pointed out an increasing trend in trauma-related deaths in the United States, which now accounts for the fourth most cause of death after cancer, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS. Despite this grim reality, there are only a few ongoing injuries-related clinical studies, which has created a shortage in quality data critical to optimal clinical care for battlefield and civilian applications.

The new frontier of AI/ML brings tools and techniques to address shortcomings in the current TBI research topography. These burgeoning technologies have created opportunities for the application of the power of big data analytics to better understand complex multi-modalities in TBI and the development of AI/ML-enabled devices for detection and diagnosis. The domain of AI/ML has evolved to such a level that FDA issued in 2021, for the first time, a Good Machine Learning Practice (GMLP) for Medical Devices Development to insist the industry apply GMLP practices toward safe, effective, and high-quality medical devices that employs AI/ML tools and technology in TBI detection and treatment.

MHSRS provided an opportunity for the ERP team to network with the military health services customers, and academic research community, and served as a forum to engage strategic business partners and business associates involved in these support services.

ERP International, LLC is a trusted provider of Digital Solutions and Health Solutions that support clients in both government and commercial sectors. We provide comprehensive technology and business process transformation solutions to Health, Defense, National Security and Homeland Security agencies. ERP is appraised at CMMI DEV Maturity Level 5 and CMMI SVC Maturity Level 3 and is certified as compliant in the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard, ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 Service Management System, and ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management Standard. Founded in 2006, ERP is headquartered in Laurel, MD and maintains satellite offices in Montgomery, AL, Reston VA, Huntsville, AL and San Antonio, TX – plus project locations nationwide.

We are a recognized leader in leveraging our mature capabilities to build scalable, resilient, high performance business solutions and empowering organizations to deliver on the promises of excellence. We bring together brainpower, insightful research, quantitative benchmarking, innovation, maturely structured problem-solving methodologies, and hands-on experience to improve our clients’ business environments. Our thought leadership, based on practical and real-world experience, makes us a trustworthy partner. We improve our customers’ mission performance through our use of quantitatively managed processes to deliver maximized ROI outcomes and customer satisfaction. We are a cost conscious and competitively priced partner, delivering comprehensive solutions through people-focused practices. Our exceptional customer service rating ranks ERP in the top five percent of all companies receiving the independent D&B^® rating. Washington Technology and Inc. Magazine both previously ranked ERP among the fastest growing firms in the nation. ERP has also been named one of The Washington Post’s 2020, 2021 and 2022 Top Workplaces in the Washington, D.C. area.

Visit ERP International, LLC on the web at www.erpinternational.com

The Military Health Systems Research Symposium (MHSRS) is the Department of Defense’s foremost scientific meeting. It provides a venue for presenting new scientific knowledge resulting from military-unique research and development. The MHSRS is the premier military or civilian meeting that focuses specifically on the unique medical needs of the Warfighter.

The MHSRS provides a collaborative setting for the exchange of information between military providers with deployment experience, research and academic scientists, international partners, and industry on research and related health care initiatives falling under the topic areas of Combat Casualty Care, Military Operational Medicine, Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine, Medical Simulation and Information Sciences, Military Infectious Diseases, and the Radiation Health Effects. The MHSRS is an annual four-day educational symposium that draws approximately 3,500 attendees. To learn more, visit https://mhsrs.health.mil/SitePages/Home.aspx