Dermal Consensus Building Meeting Invitation Message - FINAL.docx

Title:

Join the Department of War (DoW) Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office (BIRCO) on 28 – 29 July in McLean, VA for the Blast Injury Prevention Standards Recommendation (BIPSR) Process Dermal Burns Blast Injury Type Consensus Building Meeting.

Registration and additional meeting information is available at: https://forms.office.com/g/UpZ7503vMS

Meeting Details:

This invitation is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Defense Health Agency Research & Development - Medical Research & Development Command (DHA R&D-MRDC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The DHA R&D-MRDC mission is to provide medical knowledge and materiel lifecycle management to protect, treat, and optimize service member health and performance across the full spectrum of operations. The DoW BIRCO on behalf of the Executive Agent Responsible Official (EARO) coordinates the DoW sponsored biomedical research programs aimed at preventing, mitigating, and treating blast-related injuries; recommends Blast injury Prevention standards; identifies knowledge gaps and shapes research programs accordingly; promotes information sharing among the operational, intelligence, medical, and materiel development communities; and facilitates collaborative research among DoW laboratories and the laboratories of other federal agencies, academics, and industry to leverage resources and to take full advantage of the body of knowledge that resides both within and outside of the DoW to accelerate the delivery of blast injury prevention and treatment strategies to Service members. BIRCO advises the EARO on Military Health System (MHS) Blast Injury Prevention and Treatment Standards to recommend to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs [OASD(HA)].

Participants will learn about DoW intended uses and required functionalities for a dermal burns blast injury prevention standard, hear technical talks on dermal burns research, and engage in discussions aimed at identifying and addressing dermal burns research gaps. The outcomes from this meeting are recommendations for both a dermal burn blast injury prevention standard and targeted research topics to fill identified knowledge gaps for better protection of service members against blast derived dermal burns.

To identify the best available blast injury prevention standards that will meet the needs of the DoW, the BIRCO, in collaboration with The MITRE Corporation, employs the MHS BIPSR Process. The BIPSR Process is designed to address the needs of all Services for biomedically valid Blast Injury Prevention Standards to protect against the entire spectrum of blast injuries. The process provides an unbiased, stakeholder-driven critical assessment methodology for identifying the best biomedically valid candidate MHS Blast Injury Prevention Standards currently available. The term “Military Health System Blast Injury Prevention Standard” is defined as a “biomedically valid description of physiologically or biomechanically based injury and performance responses of a human to blast insults.” The standards can range from simple dose response curves and injury thresholds that address single components of blast insults, such as blast pressure wave magnitude, or address multiple components of blast insults, such as pressure magnitude over time. These standards will play a critical role in the prevention of service member injuries and the enhancement of service member survivability by informing health hazard assessments, survivability assessments, and protection system development aimed at producing safe weapon systems, survivable combat platforms, and effective protection systems.

BIRCO is in the process of executing the BIPSR Process for the Dermal Burns Blast Injury Type. Potential operational environments and intended uses of human Dermal Burns Blast Injury Prevention Standards may include the protection of military service members who are exposed to various levels of thermal exposure from weapons fire or explosives, discharge from vehicle charges, and multiple exposure from both thermal and chemical burns.

This meeting seeks to:

1. Inform individuals of the BIPSR Process and its recommendations for the Dermal Burns Blast Injury type including:

a. The review of existing capabilities

b. The collection of Dermal Burns Focused Stakeholder intended uses and requested functionalities for a dermal burns blast injury prevention standard

c. The SME Panel balanced, objective, and knowledgeable evaluations of the candidate standards’ suitability for the DoW's intended uses based on the available information.

2. Support communication of current Candidate Dermal Burns Blast Injury Prevention standards and their capabilities

3. Discuss the state of the science and recommendations for targeted research to fill knowledge gaps

4. Present recommendations for a MHS Dermal Burns Blast Injury Prevention Standard by the DoW Executive Agent for Medical Research for Prevention of Blast Injuries to OASW(P&R)

Information collected as a part of the meeting will inform the final report for future research and MHS blast injury prevention standards for improved service member protection against blast derived dermal burns.

The agenda for this event is forthcoming.

Registration:

Registration information is available at https://forms.office.com/g/UpZ7503vMS

Participants will not automatically receive a confirmation email after registering. If a participant would like confirmation of their registration, they may request one by emailing BIPSR_Process@mitre.org. Confirmation requests will be fulfilled within one business day.

This is a no-cost event, and free parking is available onsite at the venue.

For questions regarding the event, please email BIPSR_Process@mitre.org.

DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES

This invitation is issued solely for information and program planning purposes; it does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Participation is voluntary and is not required to respond to a subsequent Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) (if any) or other research solicitation (if any) on this topic.

The DHA Contracting Activity (DHACA)/USAMRDC DoW Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in participation.

Questions should be addressed to the Contract Specialist for this Special Notice, Ms. Skylar Wells, at 301-619-1362, or via e-mail at skylar.a.wells2.civ@health.mil.