TATRC on Track to Issue FY2009 Extramural Defense-Related Vision Research Awards by late First-Quarter 2010
Legislative Update
February 17, 2010
 Left to right: TATRC Director Colonel Karl Friedl, Ph.D. and Michael Steinmetz, Ph.D., National Eye Institute. |
On February 16, the Department of Defenses (DOD) Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), which manages the dedicated Peer Reviewed Medical Research-Vision line item in defense appropriations, held a meeting of its Programmatic Committee to make final recommendations regarding extramural research awards with its Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 funding. As reported earlier, although the PRMR-Vision line item was funded at $4 million in FY2009, TATRC has added other funding to bring this program to a level of $5.2 million.
At the Programmatic Committee meeting, participants considered the final peer-reviewed submissions. TATRC had issued a Program Announcement in late June requesting pre-proposal submissions. After an August 2009 meeting in which the Programmatic Committee reviewed 120 pre-proposal submissions, TATRC requested full proposals from a portion of the respondents by October 2009. The full proposals were peer reviewed in early December 2009.
The TATRC Programmatic Committee is co-chaired by Colonel Donald Gagliano, M.D., Director of the joint DOD/Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Vision Center of Excellence (VCE) and Colonel Karl Friedl, Ph.D., TATRC Director. It is composed of ophthalmologists and optometrists from the various branches of the U.S. military and the VA, in addition to representatives from the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ARVO Executive Director Joanne Angle, as well as NAEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky and Advocacy Manager David Epstein, serve as stakeholder representatives.
TATRC will notify awardees, and NAEVR will post links to award abstracts once that information is made publicly available.
 Left to right: Colonel Janet Harris, R.N., Director, US Army Clinical and Rehabilitation Research; Lieutenant Colonel Ray Santullo, O.D., Air Force Optometry Consultant; Francis McVeigh, O.D., TATRC Senior Scientist, and ARVO Executive Director Joanne Angle |
 NAEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky and Robert Read, TATRC Vision Portfolio Manager |
