San Antonio, Texas is home to leading academic, military, and industry partners, all of whom share common research interests. The San Antonio Military Health System (SAMHS) is one of the Department of Defense?s (DoD) largest military medical centers. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and The University of Texas Health ? San Antonio (UT Health SA) both have leading, cutting edge research in a wide array of areas of impact to clinical and behavioral care including vaccine development, brain health, technology related to neuromuscular disorders. Also, UT Health SA is home to the South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma and Resilience, or STRONG STAR. This multidisciplinary and multi- institutional research consortium is funded by the DoD and Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop and evaluate the most effective early interventions possible for the detection, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions in active-duty military personnel and recently discharged veterans. In 2013, key leadership from UTSA, SAMHS, and UT Health SA agreed that research occurring throughout the military and academic arenas were highly impactful to military and civilian medicine and healthcare. With a shared need and commitment to establishing a venue where researchers from the military, academic, and industry sectors could come together to share information and build collaborations, the SAMHS and Universities Research Forum (SURF) was conceived. Since its inception, SURF has lead with the concept of ?Evidence-based Practice and Research in Healthcare: Encouraging Collaborative Partnerships?. SURF 2017 was attended by 510 participants from industry, civilian and military healthcare, biomedical research, and public health sectors. From the 179 abstracts submitted, 65 were chosen for podium/symposia presentations and 125 for poster presentations. The main funding source for SURF has been through the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI), a state-funded line-item distributed since 2003 with the expressed purpose of building collaborative research, education and professional training between UTSA and UT Health SA. Both institutions have shared the expense of SURF since its inception in 2015, under the SALSI umbrella. In 2017, the state of Texas determined that SALSI is in its last funding period and will not be extended in the next biennium. UTSA and UT Health SA are working closely to identify new sources of funding to support SURF and will work with our military partners to sustain the program in future years through joint budgeting, grant seeking, fund raising and through identifying new partners who will invest in the program. Pursuit of this conference grant is the first effort to seek external funding to support SURF in 2018.
The interdependence between military medicine and civilian healthcare has long been demonstrated. From the adoption of military triage protocols into standard US hospital emergency care protocol to today?s cutting-edge research in advancements in prosthetic technology, the civilian and military sectors of healthcare, medicine and related research have shaped patient care and healthcare practices.
