Description of Collaborative Activity: |
A 2012 White House Executive Order, emphasizing support of service members, veterans, and their families as a “top priority,” called for an urgent increase in the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Defense (DOD), and Veterans Affairs (VA) research coordination to address the problems of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Traumatic brain injury (TBI), and suicide. 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 charged the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to lead this effort along with a parallel effort for TBI led by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS), with both Institutes working closely with the VA and DOD. In 2013, the National Research Action Plan was released in response to the Executive Order. 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. |
Type of Collaborative Activity: |
Committee, Advisory Group, or Work Group
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