New Federal Research – Subsidizing Pharma
New Federal Research – Subsidizing Pharma by Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D., Brigadier General (Ret), U.S. Army The National Institutes of Medicine is proposing to launch a new federal research Center to help develop medicines (The New York Times, January 23, 2011). Dr. Francis S. Collins, the Director of the NIH, remarks that the “drug industry’s research productivity has been declining for 15 years, ‘and it certainly doesn’t show any signs of turning upward.’” Dr. Collins had directed the Human Genome Project for years at the...
read moreIEDs, Alzheimer’s, and National Defense
IEDs, Alzheimer’s, and National Defense By Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D. Sandra Day O’Connor and Maria Shriver have called for a 10 year plan to defeat Alzheimer’s disease–“our generations defining challenge.” Invoking the visionary leadership of both John F. Kennedy & Ronald Reagan, they spotlight the National Alzheimer’s Project Act as the greatest public and financial health issue of our time. No doubt our country needs the push as millions of baby boomers age into...
read moreAgent Orange De Ja Vu
Agent Orange De Ja Vu BG (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D. The New England Journal published findings this week that confirm damage to the brain from IED blasts suffered by soldiers in combat. In a companion editorial, a Harvard neurologist exhorts that this problem deserves “the utmost attention.” On a Sunday talk show over Memorial Day, a senior Army leader placed his emphasis on more research into the conditions. The veterans who also appeared complained about the hurdles they must overcome to get treatment. Good...
read morePTSD: Beyond Best Practices
A large proportion of my clinical practice and research involves patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other sequelae of stress and war, including service members with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, detainees in Guantánamo, and others victims of torture, abuse, and cruel treatment. These cohorts are part of a broader population of trauma survivors for whom existing treatments and treatment delivery systems are often ineffective. Traditional therapies for PTSD and the many neuropsychiatric conditions associated with...
read moreAfter the War – Public Health Campaign BG (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D.
President Obama opened his State of the Union address paying tribute to our military and invoking the miracle of post-World War II America. Indeed, in a perfect world, the example would apply after every war and now. But, dreams and hopes aren’t the reality of today’s veterans. It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure the specter of a generation of homeless and injured men and women sleeping on park benches. Indeed, they are already appearing. The Army is accelerating “administrative discharges,” which is a bureaucratic way of...
read moreThe Center for Translational Medicine
2235 Military RoadArlington, VA 22207
(703) 615-3289
(703) 527-2448 Fax