Medical, Biomedical & Biodefense: Support to the Warfighter Symposium

SPEAKERS

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

0900-1015: Fort Bragg Research Institute Update and Future Requirements for Tactical Medicine.  The Fort Bragg Research Institute will host senior medical leaders from Fort Bragg for a discussion on near-term medical requirements for operations in contested battlespace and the health care vision for the next-generation warfighter.  Download the presentation.

  • Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Stephen DeLellis, Executive Director, Fort Bragg Research Institute (moderator)
  • Colonel Jim Czarnick, US Army Special Operations Command (Fort Bragg)
  • Lieutenant Colonel George A. Barbee, Joint Special Operations Command (Fort Bragg)
  • Lieutenant Colonel Dan Hankes, XVIII Airborne Corps (Fort Bragg)
  • Y. Sammy Choi, MD, Director, Department of Research, Womack Army Medical Center (Fort Bragg)
  • Tony Matcham, Medical Materiel Requirements / Capability Director, US Army Special Operations Command (Fort Bragg)

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1030-1130: Austere Medical Challenges. Austere medicine is the practice of medicine in resource-constrained environments. This could be in the wilderness, in developing countries, after disasters or in a battlefield. The projected future, multi-domain battlefield against a peer or near-peer adversary will present incredibly challenging medical situations for our military service members. Understanding this environment and the challenges is a crucial aspect of working with military partners to improve survivability. This panel of military medical experts bring decades of experience in providing medical treatments in austere environments. They will offer perspectives on the challenges presented by these environments and how prolonged care is an inherent part of these situations.  Download the presentation.

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1145-1245:Requirements and Acquisitions Processes: Department of Veterans Affairs and North Carolina Veterans Affairs Facilities. Panel presenters will identify requirements of VA medical centers and clinics in the region for medical products and services, including research and development, supplies, equipment, devices, pharmaceuticals, training, IT and staff augmentation.  They will also outline the processes they use to acquire these products and services, including use of prime vendors, GSA schedules, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and commercial contracts.  Businesses and researchers with the capability to support VA medical centers and clinics, vendors or other businesses with medical products or services should participate in this session.  Download the presentation.

  • Fran Perez-Wilhite, Program Manager, Veteran-Owned Business Development, North Carolina Military Business Center (moderator)
  • Daniel Dücker, Executive Director, Fayetteville, NC VA Medical Center
  • P. Antoine Broughton, Director, Direct Access Program/Strategic Outreach and Communications, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
  • Brenda Richardson, Logistics, VISN 6, VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network
  • Alicia Smith-Freshwater, Bio Med, VISN 6, VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network
  • Michael Eskarous, Contracting Small Business, VISN 6, VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network
  • Linda Copeland, Assistant Supply Chain Manager, Salisbury, NC VA Medical Center
  • Dr. Williams Craig Holbert, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Asheville, NC VA Medical Center

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

0930-1045: COVID Lessons Learned: Medical Response, Pharmaceuticals, PPE and Contracting Opportunities. Since January of 2020, our nation and the world have been wrestling with the COVID-19 pandemic. While so much progress has been made, there is still work to be done – but much can be learned by considering how far we have come in that fight. From the creation and scale-up of new diagnostics to the development and deployment of new treatments for COVID patients to the broad roll-out of effective vaccines, this session will include representatives that span across all those areas – from industry, federal agencies and military treatment facilities.  Download the presentation.

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1100-1200: Infectious Disease and Future Pandemic Preparedness.  As our nation continues to grapple with the COVID -19 pandemic, there is much to be learned and applied to ensuring that we are better prepared for future pandemics. This panel of experts will bring key insights gleaned from the role they or their organization played over the last year and explore the ways government agencies, companies and non-profit organizations can all play a critical role in preparing us for the future.  Download the presentation. 

  • Krista Covey, MBA, President, First Flight Venture Center (moderator)
  • Christopher Houchens, Ph.D., Director, CBRN Countermeasures, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
  • Alastair Monk, Ph.D., SBIR/STTR Program Director, National Science Foundation
  • Nathaniel Moorman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Sherwood Yao, MBA, Co-Founder, Atom Bioworks

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1215-1315: Optimizing Military Physical and Mental Human Performance – Interactive Discussion.  The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to seek ways to improve Service members’ physical, cognitive and emotional health and performance. Effective human performance optimization (HPO) demands improvements in the integration of multiple disciplines--cognitive performance, physical performance, nutrition, psychological health and performance and recovery. There are many programs that are working in concert to make this a reality. From the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) program to the Maximizing Human Potential approach outlined by the Army Futures Command to the Human Performance and Wellness program within the Army Special Operations Command, this session will bring together experts across the spectrum to have an interactive discussion on how their program works alone and together with others to advance this important mission. This session will also include members from the newly formed North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance (NC-COMP).  No presentation. 

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1330-1500: Human Performance Optimization Advanced Technology Showcase (HPO ATS). The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to seek ways to improve Service members’ physical, cognitive and emotional health and performance. Effective human performance optimization (HPO) demands improvements in and ways to integrate multiple disciplines--cognitive performance, physical performance, nutrition, psychological health and performance and recovery--in context-specific environments. The DoD is interested in ways to improve all components of HPO including data driven solutions that can interface with physical infrastructure, increase HPO data streams, and aggregate previously siloed data into actionable information that can inform and improve the efficiency of training programs and Service member health and performance for the duration of their careers.

As part of the MBB Symposium, the North Carolina Defense Technology Transition Office (DEFTECH) and the NC Center for Optimizing Military Performance (NC-COMP) will conduct an HPO Advanced Technology Showcase. DEFTECH will release a “Request for Technologies – RFT” addressing a broad range of HPO R&D areas. Submissions consist of a formatted quad chart and a one-page info paper that will be assessed by a team of government experts and 6-8 will be selected to present. Selected companies will be given time to “pitch” (think shark tank) its technologies and how they contribute to optimizing human health and performance. The value of this session is to get one-on-one and collective government feedback, suggestions and connections that will help improve your solution and better position it for potential government and or commercial contracts. To be clear, no government contracting or funding will directly result from these pitches. Those not chosen to present will have their quad chart submission included in an HPO-ATS booklet that will be distributed to government subject matter experts. Of course, all are invited and encouraged to register, attend and take advantage of this “one-stop shop” to learn and connect with government and industry Human Performance experts.