Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton maximizes performance and survivability of warfighters

  • Published
  • By Bryan Ripple
  • 88th ABW Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton, located at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Area B is Navy Medicine's world class, global aeromedical and toxicology research leader. Their efforts and innovative products are aligned with operational requirements to solve the naval and joint warfighter challenges of the future. The unit participates in a wide variety of collaborative efforts with military, government, academic and civilian research organizations.

"Our mission is to maximize warfighter performance and survivability through premier aeromedical and environmental health research by delivering solutions to the field, the Fleet and for the future," said Navy Capt. Rees Lee, commanding officer, NAMRU-D.

NAMRU-D is one of eight medical research labs in the Navy. Five of them are located in the continental United States and three of them are overseas. The unit was relocated to Wright-Patterson in October 2010 from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida as part of a Base Realignment and Closure decision.
A fairly small command of about 80 people including 12 military members and mostly civilian sailors, NAMRU-D has two directorates - the Aeromedical directorate, and Environmental Health Effects or toxicology directorate.

NAMRU-D has been awarded the prestigious "When Work Works Award" by the The Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. The award emphasizes workplace flexibility, balance between work and life and family requirements.

"Research is not so much the size of the command as it is the motivation and the good ideas that you can generate, so it's really the people that define the command. Our people are passionate about what they do, they love their job, and it shows. They're productive, and they answer the questions that the military and the nation needs answered," Lee said.

The unit and its predecessor commands have existed since 1939 when it was realized that there was a need for some type of aeromedical lab to decide on the proper research concerning the screening process for pilots. Over time, their mission evolved to include work supporting the U.S. space exploration program including the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo programs. The unit continued to do aeromedical work with emphasis on acceleration and developing training curriculum for pilots. Since the unit moved to Wright-Patt, those missions have continued.

The unit has provided research and training for pilots on several life-saving aspects of flight such as what's known as the "Black Hole Effect."

"We get research from simulators. We can actually design simulations for real-world events. One of them is this "Black Hole Effect" where a pilot loses the horizon at night and there are no other landmarks. Pilots might tend to concentrate just on the end of the runway and will tend to go too low," said Lee.

The solution to flying too low on approach happened to be a six-minute training curriculum developed at NAMRU-D. "We found this very effective. We saw that people landed low from the majority of the time to where we get over 90 percent of them to land with a proper glide slope simply through training and to concentrate on their instruments. We're still doing research as to the appropriate frequency for taking the training," Lee said. Aeromedical and experimental psychologists have been working on this research, looking at the behaviors of pilots, what causes them to fly low and then asking what can be done about it. If it's training, what training can be provided? "Some of the stuff we do is borderline rocket science, but some of it is very straight forward, but saves lives. Sometimes the simple stuff saves lives," said Lee.

NAMRU-D conducts research with an emphasis on motion sickness and anything to do with acceleration or motion. In addition, they conduct fatigue research with a goal to help people perform better in austere environments.

Personnel from the Aeromedical directorate have studied Hypoxia and developed hypoxia mitigations and physiologic sensors, including work on the F-22 hypoxia issue that pilots recently faced.

The Environmental Health Effects directorate of NAMRU-D conducts toxicology research with emphasis on various environmental exposures to toxins such as from burn pits, sand, jet fuel and noise. Also, within the past few years, the Navy has begun assigning female sailors on submarines, so the directorate has conducted atmospheric studies aboard submarines to determine possible reproductive ramifications for female sailors who may not realize they are pregnant when assigned to a submarine. Previously, atmospheric studies had only been conducted for men. The study was conducted to find out what effects might occur to a fetus. So far, research shows that it appears to be safe if this were to happen, Lee said.

NAMRU-D works closely with the 711th Human Performance Wing, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Lab and schools such as Wright State University and others.

"Our move here brought together people who are experts in aeromedical research and by bringing together smart people, they think of smart ideas, and when you get them collaborating, the sky's the limit," said Lee.

For example, Lee related that a vision success is laser mitigation, developed for the Coast Guard as a joint effort between NAMRU-D, the 711th and AFRL. Together, they developed what look like sunglasses called Laser Eye Protection that can eliminate certain frequencies of green light. "Sometimes people either purposely or accidentally illuminate a cockpit, and when this happens, it can temporarily blind or distract the pilot in critical stages of flight, which can be extremely dangerous," Lee said.

Additionally, Dr. Michael Reddix, head of the NAMRU-D vision study area, has spent the last few years studying how to evaluate the vision of pilots and ensure that pilot candidates weren't being excluded unnecessarily from becoming a pilot, or including people who may have difficulties seeing the various key colors, either in or outside the cockpit. He tested three new vision tests to ensure that new pilots can safely operate an aircraft.

NAMRU-D scientists bring to the table a powerful array of expertise covering a broad range of topics. Their co-location with the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patt facilitates direct collaboration and allows both organizations to leverage their extensive research capabilities.

For more about NMRU-D, visit http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmrc/pages/namrud.htm.