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Ongoing Research Projects:
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Military and Veterans PTSD Adaptive Platform Clinical Trial (M-PACT). Led by Dr. Nathan Kearns, this project aims to determine efficacy and safety of pharmacological treatments for PTSD among active-duty service members and veterans over 12 weeks. This research project is a collaboration with USAMMDA, the Intrepid Spirit Center, and the Madigan Army Medical Center. |
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Sleep and Trauma Recovery through Integrated Knowledge and Emerging technologies (STRIKE). Led by Dr. Megan Douglas, this project aims to examine the relative efficacy and feasibility of a sleep intervention mobile application and wearable sensors in isolation or combined with an evidence-based PTSD intervention. This integrative approach to treatment design allows for strategic investment in technologies with applications for a wide variety of patient populations and comorbid conditions in dynamic settings. |
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Brain Risk Assessment for Individual Neurological (BRAIN) Health. Led by Dr. Megan Douglas, this project aims to determine the effects of repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries (rmTBIs) and repetitive head impacts (RHIs) on cognitive and behavioral functions. It will also test blood-based biomarkers, clinical markers, and demographic and medical history risk factors associated with risk for adverse health outcomes. The project is a collaboration with the University of Pittsburg. |
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Behavioral Health Leadership for Maximizing Unit Readiness. Led by Deputy Director MAJ Jeffrey Osgood, this project aims to improve behavioral health officer-leadership relationships by creating “conversation starters” to facilitate leadership behaviors that enhance unit readiness. This project is a collaboration with WRAIR’s Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience. |
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Reducing Harmful Behaviors through a Brief Personalized Normative Feedback Alcohol Intervention. Led by Dr. Nathan Kearns, this project aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a military-specific personalized normative feedback intervention to reduce problematic alcohol use, as well as reduce problematic behaviors associated with alcohol use (e.g., domestic violence, depression, and suicide). This project is a collaboration with the University of Washington and the University of Houston. |
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Reducing Suicide Risk and Improving Military Readiness through Reconnecting to Internal Sensations and Experiences (RISE). Led by Dr. Nathan Kearns, this project aims to identify the short-term and long-term efficacy of RISE on interoception, resilience, behavioral health, and military readiness outcomes (e.g., lethality) and evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and barrier to implementation of RISE within a military context. This project is a collaboration with Auburn University. |
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Reconnecting to Internal Sensations and Experiences for Uniformed Personnel (RISE–UP). Led by Dr. Nathan Kearns, this project aims to take several critical next steps in the expansion and evaluation of a RISE by: (1) convening a Military Service Community Advisory Panel to adapt content from the original RISE intervention and generate RISE content specifically for Uniformed Personnel (i.e., RISE-UP) and (2) evaluating the effectiveness of RISE-UP relative to the traditional RISE intervention. This project is a collaboration with Auburn University. |
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Inter-mixed brain-endurance training within a high-intensity-interval exercise program (BET-HIIT). Led by Dr. Brad Fawver, this project is the second in a series of efforts aimed at evaluating the benefits of brain endurance training (BET) on service members’ resilience to fatigue and sustained performance potential. Up-regulatory effects of training schedule variability and the integration of trans-auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) within the program are evaluated, as well as individual differences in intervention tolerance and transfer effects. The project is a collaboration with University of Valencia and Rosalind Franklin University. |
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Pre-post brain endurance training (BET) to improve Soldiers’ resilience to combat stress in austere environments. Led by Dr. Brad Fawver, this project aims to evaluate a BET intervention utilizing mentally demanding cognitive exercise before and after physical training in hot/humid conditions. In a novel slant, this effort will address military-relevant transfer effects within simulated dense-urban combat conditions and substantial levels of fatigue, as well as examine longitudinal dose-response effects of the intervention. This project is a collaboration with the Brazilian Army Research Institute of Physical Fitness (IPCFEx). |
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Dense urban and subterranean operations research (SubT) project. Led by Dr. Brad Fawver, this project aims to examine how operating in SubT environments affects Soldiers’ physiological and cognitive capabilities, as well as individual differences predicting dense urban and SubT performance. Populations of interest include chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) response teams conducting sensitive site surveillance and exploitation, sampling, and decontamination. This project is a collaboration with Ariel University. |
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Linking Service Members with resources to sustain psychological well-being and reduce burden on behavioral healthcare. Led by Deputy Director MAJ Jeff Osgood, this project aims to develop a peer-based intervention to increase service member utilization of unit and installation resources to reduce burden on behavioral health clinics and providers and improve service member and family readiness, and resilience. This project was developed by WRAIR-West with support from the Madigan Army Medical Center and operational partners on Joint Base Lewis McChord. |
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Addressing psychosocial factors influencing musculoskeletal injury/reinjury, rehabilitation, recovery, and return to duty outcomes. Led by Dr. Brad Fawver, this project aims to identify psychosocial predictors of musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) rehabilitation and recovery, including holistic factors that influence any gaps between physical and psychological readiness to return to duty following injury/re-injury following an MSKI. Data will be used to inform future intervention strategies to improve post-injury outcomes and combat readiness. This project is a collaboration with the University of Montreal. |
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