MedRAS News Archive 2020

The Telerobotic Surgery Operative Network (TRON) project has just completed an exciting major milestone – the delivery of the Taurus-M telesurgical robot prototype to TATRC’s Medical Robotic and Autonomous Systems (MedRAS) Lab.

On 24 November, TATRC was privileged to host Command Sergeant Major Diamond Hough, of the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM), as well as our own CSM, Victor Laragione, for a briefing on current initiatives and a tour of our Simulation facility.

On 10 November 2020, Mr. Nathan Fisher presented as a panelist at the Department of Defense & Government Health Information Technology Summit held in Alexandria, VA sponsored by the Defense Strategies Institute (DSI).

Team TATRC would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Ethan Quist, Robotics Engineer for TATRC’s Medical Robotics & Autonomous Systems (MedRAS) Division.

Almost 20 years of military conflict has led to our front line medical personnel being trained to a higher level of clinical skills in order to treat battle trauma.

Mr. Zachary “Zack” Buono has joined the TATRC team as a new Biomedical / Aeronautical Engineer. He has a background in Biomedical and Surgical Systems and will be supporting several exciting robotics projects in casualty evacuation and mission medical support.

Earlier this past summer, Dr. Amy Papadopoulos from TATRC’s Medical Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab (MEDRAS) and Tami Rougeau demonstrated a prototype of a clinical decision support system for Mr. Jay Wang from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel and Development Agency.

The military’s ability to pivot quickly to fight enemies doesn’t just apply to air, sea, ground and space forces. The military medical system has been in a unique position to respond to the urgency of COVID-19 on a number of fronts, defense health officials said.

For the military, the coronavirus pandemic is starting to echo lessons of war and shape the defense medical system in new ways, just as conflicts did in the past.

In the 2000s, military medicine had to learn on the fly how to deal with injuries from improvised explosive devices. The Defense Department put more resources into stopping bleeding, saving limbs and treating brain injuries. Those resources led to innovations and changes in medicine.

An old English proverb says, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” That never proved to be more true than now, while we witness our Nation striving to adapt and fight against the invisible enemy known as COVID-19.

COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the world, leaving despair and isolation as a feeling that many are trying to grow accustomed to. However, with all trials that Americans have faced, we have risen up and shown the world there are always helpers standing by, waiting to assist.

Tuesday, 23 June 2020 marked the end of an era as COL (R) Dr. Gary Reed Gilbert, TATRC’s renowned thought-leader, pioneer, and innovator known throughout the world of military medicine, said farewell and officially began a well-earned retirement!

If necessity and innovation are the driving forces behind invention, then the “COVID-19 Airway Management Isolation Chamber,” or CAMIC, is the perfect creation. The device, conceived, designed, built and tested by Military Health System and the Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) personnel, may be the answer to protecting healthcare workers from COVID-19 and other viruses during patient care.

A team of Army doctors may have found the answer to the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages impacting health care workers who are on the front lines of the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

A new device, called the COVID-19 Airway Management Isolation Chamber (CAMIC), is the brain-child of military doctors and researchers at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, the Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington State, and the Fort Belvoir Army Community Hospital in Virginia, among other institutions.

BETHESDA, Maryland -- Army doctors working at hospitals within the Defense Health Agency have prototyped an isolation chamber that can be placed over the head and chest of patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

TATRC’s Medical Intelligent Systems Lab (MISL) has joined forces with the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) and Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) on a new Science and Technology (S&T) effort entitled, “Combat Evacuation Mission Module” (CEMM), a Medical Robotic and Autonomous Systems (MedRAS) S&T Task Area project.

On 10 January 2020, TATRC supported the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery’s (BUMED) effort along with the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) to characterize the use of the CORNET STINN 4G LTE Manpack Radio for use as a communications enabler for Virtual Health in a tactical environment.

Dr. Amy Papadopoulos, D.Sc. joins the TATRC team to support the MISL Lab as the AI and Machine Learning Engineer. The desire to help others has been a significant factor in many of Amy’s life decisions and she believes that joining the TATRC team will allow her to continue on this path.

Mr. Ethan Quist is the latest new hire to join the TATRC team as a Robotics Engineer working in our MISL lab supporting our Robotics efforts. He has recently graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a M.Eng. in Robotics. While there he concentrated in Medical Robotics and Rehabilitation Robotics.

Mr. Oliver Allen joins the TATRC Team as a Project Officer. He will primarily be supporting the MISL lab and their projects by assisting with research and collection and filing of communications and reports.