1. Overview
2. Gaps

Gaps

Environmental Health & Protection

• Performance and injury predictions
• Return to duty criteria following heat injury
• Microclimate cooling
• Technologies for optimal hydration status management

• Performance and injury predictions to hypoxia
• Technologies to support sustained operations at high altitudes

• Performance and injury predictions for mixed extreme environments in training and operations

• Performance and injury predictions during cold weather operations
• Performance degradation in manual dexterity to cold climates
• Cognitive performance degradation in cold climates

• Accurate dose information for exposure to industrial chemicals, mixtures and material hazards
• Technologies and wearable devices to assess exposures to environmental chemicals and toxic material hazard

• Toxicant environmental health hazards
• Industrial chemical mixtures found in dense urban environments

• Biomarker detection of exposure threats
• Biomarkers of prediction for adverse SM health outcomes

Injury Prevention & Reduction

• Improved understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal injuries
• Advanced technologies for real-time assessments outside of the clinic
• Physical fitness training strategies to reduce the risk of injury from load, jolt, vibration, etc.
• Countermeasures to mitigate injury risk potential for exploitation in training environments
• Development of injury criteria for Personal Protection Equipment against blunt, blast and ballistic trauma threats
• Injury criteria and medical performance standards to protect against hearing loss, vestibular injury, and ocular facial injury
• Standards and criteria to identify when Warfighters are capable to Return-to-Duty (RTD), fully able to perform demanding tasks

Physiological Health & Performance

• Novel mechanisms in understanding/manipulating sleep for performance and health
• Ability to monitor biologically- and medically-relevant sleep architecture in an ecologically-relevant, open architecture manner for management of Warfighter fatigue, attention and readiness
• Non-pharmacological manipulation of alertness and sleep
• Use of VALIDATED wearables for Sleep as an indicator/predictor of performance, safety and health
• Management of Circadian rhythms

• Nutrition solutions to optimize recovery and sustain the Joint Warfighter under extreme conditions
• Nutritional interventions for mission reset and injury recovery -- countermeasures for physical and cognitive degradation following military operations
• Protection strategies to mitigate operational stress
• Tailored, modular ration components to improve readiness

• Sustain robust cognitive function in Service members under acute operational psychological/physiological stressors
• Promote adaptability to novel, militarily-relevant demands and improve cognitive function in Service members over the course of a training cycle or career

Psychological Health & Resilience

• Evidence-based approaches to protect, maintain, optimize and enhance Service member and Family psychological fitness/readiness
• Evidence-based individual and group strategies to promote resilience to operational stressors and enhance psychological health and readiness
• Resilience training approaches that leverage technologies and accelerate learning and skills acquisition
• Operationally relevant metrics for Total Force Fitness domains (e.g., social, spiritual, psychological, behavioral)

• Objective tools and technologies to better prevent, diagnose, and treat mental health issues such as suicide and substance abuse
• Non-self-report real-time assessment technologies of psychological well-being and status
• Telemedicine and mental/behavioral health approaches that overcome barriers/challenges
• Identification/validation of biomarkers for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Translational efforts on the diagnosis and psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment of PTSD
• Promote provider adoption and fidelity in practice of evidence-based interventions for restoration of psychological health