Description of Collaborative Activity: |
A 2012 White House Executive Order titled, "Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families" emphasized support of service members, veterans, and their families as a “top priority,” and called for an urgent increase in the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Defense (DOD), and Veteran’s Affairs (VA) research commitments and collaborations to address the problems of PTSD, TBI, and suicide in military populations. Section 5 of this Executive Order requested a National Research Action Plan to develop biomarkers, define the pathophysiology, and create new treatments for PTSD. HHS has charged NIMH to lead this effort along with a parallel effort for TBI led by NINDS, with both Institutes working closely with the VA and DOD. Fortunately, prior investments interrogating the molecular, genomic, and circuitry changes that give rise to PTSD in the context of environmental factors provide the requisite foundation to respond to this White House request for biomarkers for risk prediction, as well as new targets for medications and other therapies to treat PTSD. Such an investment has the potential to revolutionize the care for individuals at high risk for PTSD, and prevent the development of chronic complex treatment resistant PTSD. |
