[Title] VA Research: Reflections and Accomplishments 1 00:00:06 --> 00:00:04 >> This is really one of the great purposes of VA Research
>> is to help Veterans and understand their conditions
>> and find treatments for the conditions that are specific to what they get while they were in the military .
>> VA conducts research to find new ways of diagnosing and treating disease.
>> If VA and others didn't conduct research, we would be stuck where we were 100 years ago,
>> or 200 years ago, or maybe in the Middle Ages.
>> So, society needs to support this, so that we find treatments for conditions,
>> find new ways of diagnosing conditions,
>> find ways of preventing conditions.
>> It's been these most recent years, the last eight years,
>> that I think have really felt transformational
>> when it comes to VA research.
>> Clearly, we live in a time of some national challenges, but we have enormous opportunities.
>> So, despite our national challenges, it's been a period of really
>> accelerating, important growth in the VA�s research portfolio.
>> I, like many people, attribute that in significant part to the work of my friend and colleague Dr. Joel Kupersmith
>> whom I first worked with when we were both deans
>> and I was so pleased to see him move into the VA Research leadership role, where we�ve been great partners.
>> The biggest challenge to run a major research program is to make the most use of the resources--
>> to get the most research, the most help for people
>> out of those resources, is the biggest challenge.
>> When the nation was first coming to grips around comparative effectiveness research,
>> I can remember that Joel authored an essay on the value of comparative effectiveness research.
>> And I think it really changed the way a lot of institutions viewed that.
>> And since then, now with this new emphasis on patient-centered outcomes research,
>> the early work and the championing of that that the VA did under Joel's leadership
>> I think really set the stage for all of us to engage more widely in comparative effectiveness research.
>> And I should say the same thing about implementation science.
>> Before Joel started talking about implementation research,
>> there were a lot of people that didn't even know what it was.
>> But when the VA embraced it, and it's really looking at not only doing comparative effectiveness research,
>> but understanding how to implement that in routine practice,
>> Joel was the big proponent of that, and I think help set the stage for that to become
>> much more broad than it was initially.
>> I've known Joel Kupersmith for many years, back when he was in training even,
>> and admired what he's accomplished at every stage of his career.
>> In the last eight years, he's been an extraordinary leader
>> for the Research and Development program at the Veterans Adminstration,
>> and he's done a lot in that job to help Veterans and to help the nation.
>> Our overall goals have not changed much over these eight years.
>> I think the details have changed, because we have findings,
>> and then, based on those findings, we move ahead.
>> So, the research projects depend on previous findings, and the situation,
>> and the situation of war has not changed.
>> We deal with Veterans in the long-term, so the fact that the war ends,
>> won't change the fact that we have to deal with these conditions when they come back.
>> It is very important that Veterans and the nation at large know about VA research,
>> so that, one is they know what benefits have derived from it,
>> and that they know why people are spending money on it.
>> So, I think it's very important that the public at large know about VA research.
>> It's very difficult, because most people don't think that VA does research,
>> they don't know that VA does research--even many Veterans don't.
>> And we have done our best over the last eight years to make at least Veterans aware of it
>> and at least make those who are stakeholders--Veteran Service Organizations and others like that
>> aware of what we're doing.
>> One of the important things that Veterans should know is that
>>their participation is research is crucial. We can't do research without their help,
>> and that's another reason why Veterans need to know about it.
>> I think there is an understanding among those who decide on these things
>> that VA research is important,
>> that there's a much greater understanding, I think, within the government and within the stakeholders
>> about how beneficial this program is.
>> And I think that will also serve as an infrastructure and foundation for its good health in the future.
[Outro with music]
>> "VA Research: Improving Veterans' Lives."
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