To the Editor: The Medical Research theme issue of JAMA had one critical omission: discussion of the research program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Although Dr Moses and colleagues1 lament the lack of comprehensive analyses of biomedical funding, their table of federal agencies with medical research budgets of more than $400 million omits the VA, which has a budget of more than $800 million and whose investigators receive about that amount in outside funding. And while Congressman Porter2 urges support for research funding in several federal agencies, he does not comment on the VA.
Veterans Affairs investigators include 3 Nobel laureates and 8 Lasker award winners among other awardees. Our research portfolio over the years has made important contributions, including concepts underlying computed axial tomographic scanning, cardiac pacemakers, liver transplantations, and a vaccine for shingles.3 The Cooperative Studies Program has played an important role in making the randomized controlled trial the cornerstone of establishing therapies. The daily work of generalists and many specialists is heavily informed by and in instances based on findings of VA research.
Veterans Affairs research offers unique possibilities because it is an intramural program connected to a large integrated health care system that uses a highly developed electronic medical record. It has the ability to translate research from the bench to clinical research to the bedside to health services and health systems. Veterans Affairs research has completed this cycle in many conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.4 Our Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) program systematically applies research observations to the clinical setting, thereby putting evidence-based data into practice. We have made implementation of research a subject for study. We are exploring how to use the VA electronic medical record and other clinical inputs to properly inform our research agenda. We are also embarking on a major genomics project that is in its earliest phase.
Financial Disclosures: None reported.
Disclaimer: Dr Kupersmith is Chief Research and Development Officer for the Veterans Health Administration and Dr Perlin is Under Secretary for Health.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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