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While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wasn't formally established until 1930 and its formal partnerships with U.S. medical schools didn't occur until 1946, the VA's predecessor, the Veterans' Bureau, started a small internal research program in February 1925. Since its humble beginnings 100 years ago through to today, VA research has contributed greatly to the health of veterans and our entire nation. Our local VA research program in Iowa City continues with this mission.
Those who join the military willingly put themselves at risk to protect America. There are the known risks, bombs and gun shots, but there are also less visible risks, such as Agent Orange and burn pit exposures, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and risk for suicide. Early VA research analyzed mountains of clinical data to understand the long-term effects of poison gas from the WWI battlefields. This research was funded by individual researchers, foundations and Universities. In 1932, the Tumor Research Laboratory at Hines VA Hospital in Chicago was the first lab to receive VA funds specifically for research. Centers in Washington, D.C. for the study of heart disease and on Long Island for the study of neuropsychiatry were also established. What we would recognize as VA's modern research program started after WW2 in 1946.
From 1946 until today, the contributions of veterans and VA researchers have been immense. VA was responsible for the first decisive trials of effective treatment for tuberculosis and proving that treating high blood pressure saves lives. The concept of a CAT Scan was developed in the VA. We take for granted that smoking causes lung cancer, but did you know VA helped establish the link leading to the initial Surgeon General warnings? And many of us are getting old (well all of us are) and sometimes our heart beats a little slow. Well, if you have an implantable pacemaker in your heart, you can thank the veterans who participate in these studies and VA research.
VA research continues to this day in our state. At the Iowa City VA, researchers have shown that using ultraviolet light emitting robots to help clean patient rooms reduces infections in hospitals by 20%. Other Iowa City researchers have been leaders in the implementation of telemedicine and supporting broadband internet access for rural Veterans by showing that optimal broadband access increases adoption of video or telephone doctors visits.
All of this is to say thank you to the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA researchers and particularly our nations veterans over the past 100 years for their service on the battlefield and their commitment towards improving medical care through research when they return home. The VA and VA research would not exist if it weren't for the clinician researchers who serve our veterans at the bedside and in the laboratory and the men and women who enlist in the military to protect us all.