Repeated Exposure to Low-Level Military Occupational Blasts: An Overview of the Research, Critical Gaps, and Recommendations
Abstract
Chairwoman Warren, Ranking Member Scott, and members of the committee, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Dr. Samantha McBirney. I am a biomedical engineer at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. My research for the past 15 years, not only at RAND but also at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California, has focused on traumatic brain injury, or TBI--both as the result of blunt impact and as the result of blast overpressure. My comments today are based on research conducted within the Personnel, Readiness, and Health Program within the RAND National Security Research Division, as well as peer-reviewed, published research that has taken place outside RAND in the broader scientific community. For the past eight years, RAND has supported the Department of Defenses (DoDs) Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office in synthesizing recent research and defining the upcoming research agenda on specific topics related to blast. A list of RANDs contributions to this space is available online.3
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 28, 2024
- Accession Number
- AD1222553
Entities
People
- Samantha Mcbirney
Organizations
- RAND Corporation