TATRC Organization

TATRC’s mission is to execute a congressional special interest program of medical science and advanced technology research that maximizes benefit to military medicine and national healthcare.

Download - TATRC Organizational Structure Diagram

Download - TATRC Research Program Information Chart

Download - TATRC Annual Report - 2009

TATRC AITG Online Portfolio

The Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) is the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s (USAMRMC) corporate or central laboratory for advanced technology research. Its diverse assortment of unique collaborative relationships with government, academia and industry comprises a workforce that focuses on world-class integrated research and development for the Department of Defense. TATRC’s research programs consist of seven portfolios and a new initiatives and basic science program, for addressing the ever-changing world of medical requirements both on the battlefield and in hospitals of the future. TATRC focuses on technology areas critical to healthcare requirements across a broad spectrum which is supported by the following research portfolios and new initiatives.

• Medical Robotics - research projects aimed at adapting, integrating, or developing technologies to treat patients in fixed and mobile medical facilities and to locate, identify, assess, treat and rescue battlefield casualties.

• Health Information Technologies - oversees all health informatics related programs within TATRC and is designated as the IM/IT research arm for the Military Health System (MHS) Joint Medical Information Program Office.

• Medical Imaging Technologies - research projects are organized into four distinct research areas: portable imaging and image guided therapeutics, advanced high performance imaging, computational methods and decision support in imaging, and optical/para-optical imaging techniques.

• Advanced Prosthetics and Human Performance - research projects aimed at providing advanced prosthetics, orthotics, and other assistive devices, treatments and interventions for patients with major limb amputations, fractures, and other orthopedic related injuries.

• Computational Biology - focuses on development and application of methods for analysis, interpretation, prediction and modeling of biological data. Recent developments in genomic research presents both challenges and opportunities to extract knowledge from large amounts of gene and protein data that could lead to early detection of biological threats and emerging infectious diseases, as well as the discovery of new drugs and treatment regimens.

• Biomonitoring Technologies - focuses on identifying and developing point-of-care medical technologies and support architectures to improve military health care through the application of wireless information and sensor technologies.

• Simulation and Training Technology -Research is being conducted in four general categories: PC-Based Interactive Multimedia, Digitally Enhanced Mannequins, Part-Task Trainers and Total Immersion Virtual Reality. The strategy is to identify enabling technologies, mature them into components, integrate those components into simulation-based training systems, and validate them to determine the degree to which they transfer skills learned via simulation to the practice of enhancing training and/or patient care.

• Chronic Disease Management - portfolio reflects the use of advanced medical technology in primarily Diabetes and Heart Disease. Current projects highlight the use of telemedicine, home care monitoring, evolving biosensor development, and advanced immunologic testing in vulnerable populations.

• Neuroscience - portfolio leverages the latest technologies in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and therapy to prevent injury or improve warfighter outcomes from traumatic brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve injury as well as the neuropsychologic effects of war. Advances in neuroprotection strategies, regenerative medicine and materials science will enable retention or restoration of function.

• Regenerative Medicine - one of the new portfolios created in response to the current military medical needs to treat traumatically injured tissues resulting from combat or battlefield wounds. Regenerative Medicine encompasses many novel approaches for the treatment of damaged tissues and organs by using therapies that prompt the body to autonomously regenerate, and by using autologous cells from the patient’s body to seed on biodegradable scaffolds for the creation of engineered organs.

• Nano-Medicine and Biomaterials -focuses on identifying novel developments in materials science and biomaterials that can improve drugs and devices for diagnosis and therapy of a broad range of medical conditions.

• Medical Logistics - dedicated to advancing the practice of medical logistics via conceptualization and execution of state-of-the-art prototype devices that are modular in concept and multifunctional/multi-procedural in capability for implementation across the spectrum of care within the Department of Defense, from the battlefield to its tertiary care centers and into the industrial base.

TATRC has consistently provided the enabling technologies that will best support the healthcare of the Army of the 21st Century. Its research programs are focused on the key pillars of emerging healthcare to identify, develop, and deploy the best advanced technology and medical solutions available to the Department of Defense.