1. US Army Institute of Surgical Research Fort Sam Houston, Texas The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. Being A Physiologist in a Military Lab Kathy L. Ryan, Ph.D. or “How I Found My Ideal Job in the Most Unlikely of Places”

2. USAISR My Background 1989 – Ph.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (cardiovascular physiology) 1989-1992 – Postdoctoral Fellowship (cardiovascular pharmacology) 1992-1999 – Contractor, Brooks Air Force Base 1999-2010 – Research Physiologist (GS), US Army Institute of Surgical Research

3. USAISR US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC) Labs US Army Aeromedical Research Lab US Army Institute of Surgical Research US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine Walter Reed Army Institute of Research US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense Overseas Labs USA Medical Research Unit – Europe USA Research Unit – Kenya Armed Forces Research institute of Medical Sciences (Thailand)

4. USAISR Environmental Hazards Heat and Cold Altitude Toxic Industrial Chemicals and Materials Systems Hazards RFR Laser Blast Biomechanical Insults and Stresses Operational Stressors Sleep Deprivation Traumatic Stress and Situational Stressors Physical Workload Cognitive Burden and Operational Complexity Endemic Disease Threats Parasitic Diseases Bacterial Diseases Viral Diseases Chemical/Biological WarfareThreats Bacterial Threats Viral Threats Toxin Threats Nerve Agents Vesicant Agents Blood Agents Combat Injuries Hemorrhage Tissue Injury and Trauma Resuscitation Medical Devices Clinical Research Focus on Threats to Soldier Health and Performance US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC) Research Focus

5. USAISR US Army Institute of Surgical Research (ISR) Current Task Areas (i.e., research teams) –Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Medical Monitoring –Combat Casualty Care Engineering –Clinical Trials –Damage Control Resuscitation (Hemostasis, Resuscitation, Blood Products) –Pain Management –Regenerative Medicine Approx. 600 employees –200 research personnel

6. USAISR Center for Excellence for Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Current Task Areas (i.e., Research Teams) –Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Medical Monitoring –Combat Casualty Care Engineering –Clinical Trials –Damage Control Resuscitation (Hemostasis, Resuscitation, Blood Products) –Pain Management –Regenerative Medicine By 2011 –Dental Research (Army, Navy, Air Force) –Eye Injury Research (Army, Air Force) –Combat Casualty Care Research (Army, Navy, Air Force)

7. USAISR Types of Scientists ISR –Physiologists –Pharmacologists –Molecular biologists –Cell biologists –Geneticists –Biochemists –Statisticians –Biomedical engineers –MDs and DDSs (clinical research) MRMC –Virologists –Bacteriologists –Epidemiologists –Psychologists –Biophysicists –Nutritionists –And others….

8. USAISR Employment Opportunities Active Duty Military* Department of Defense Civilian * –No tenure, but “permanent” status Contractor –University –Private contracting company Postdoctoral Fellow –National Research Council (NRC) –University Student Interns –Graduate, if establish through university –Undergraduate * Must be US citizen

9. USAISR Skills Needed for a Civilian Scientist in the US Army Research expertise –Basic science –Applied: “real world” Team player with strong desire to collaborate Function in structured environment Ability to communicate: written and oral Willingness to learn new “skills” (e.g., Contracting/budgeting) Perform under pressure – “suspense” –“taskers”, briefings, reviews DWA (“deal with acronyms!”)

10. USAISR Academia 30% 10% 30% Teaching Administrative Grants/ Funding Research Comparison of Responsibilities 1% 10% 9% 80% US Gov’t/Army Zambraski, E., with permission

11. USAISR Research Funding Core funding –1 grant proposal/3 yrs Extramural funding –NIH, Defense Health Program, etc. –Encouraged, not required Industry partnerships

12. USAISR Personal Funding Permanent position salaries –Competitive –Excellent benefits $K Data redrawn from 2009 Salary Survey by The Scientist (www.the-scientist.com/salarysurvey)www.the-scientist.com/salarysurvey Postdoctoral Fellowship salaries –NRC at ISR: $45,000 + $2000 travel + benefits –NIH minimum: $37,368

13. USAISR State-of-the-Art Facilities and Equipment AAALAC-certified animal research programs End of year funding –Lab equipment –Software

14. USAISR Teamwork Univ of Massachusetts Michigan State Univ Dartmouth College Univ of Miami Mass General Hospital Univ of California - Irvine Mayo Clinic Virginia Commonwealth Univ Univ of Colorado Univ of Minnesota Univ of Cincinnati Univ of Texas at San AntonioSouthwest Foundation for Biomed Res

15. USAISR A Sense of Mission Research focus –“Real-world” problems Service –To institute –To country Job Satisfaction

16. USAISR Army Science – “…The Bad, The Ugly” Bureaucracy –“There’s the right way, and then there’s the Army way” –Extensive laws, rules and regulations –Approval processes –System to madness Extreme computer security Less flexible work hours –Time cards (40 hrs/wk) –Workday starts early

17. USAISR Comparison AcademiaUS Army Salaries++ AppointmentsTenureContract/Term/Perm Choice of Res. Topics+/- Flexibility in Work Hrs+- Resources-++ Bureaucracy+- Publishing++ Meetings/Travel-+ Sense of Mission+++

18. USAISR March 25, 2008: “ > 40% of the Army’s science workforce are eligible for retirement within the next 10 years.” MG George Weightman  Army science workforce ~ 8,000+  Other DoD branches (Navy, Air Force) real numbers but much smaller Are there Science Jobs?

19. USAISR Finding Jobs Within US Army Formal government job announcements –Websites: http://www.usajobs.gov/ http://www.cpol.army.mil/ http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap/ Interactions as professionals –Meetings/conferences –Societies/Editorial Boards Interaction as collaborators Direct inquiries and contact with Army investigators

20. USAISR Combat Casualty Care Research for the Soldier Thank you! kathy.ryan@amedd.army.mil