NYMC Awarded $10 Million DOD Grant

The award comes at a critical moment in U.S. defense preparedness. Unlike the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where near-total air superiority allowed for rapid battlefield evacuation, future engagements may leave injured warfighters requiring prolonged medical care in austere, hostile environments – sometimes for weeks – before evacuation is possible. The three-year program will develop life-saving treatment protocols and cutting-edge VR training for military and civilian responders. 

Working in close collaboration with USU, NYMC will lead a multi-pronged initiative with three core areas of focus: developing evidence-based treatment protocols and equipment inventories for combat and mass violence scenarios; creating medical care approaches and treatment algorithms for austere environments informed by real-world data from both military and civilian experiences and pioneering immersive education models using virtual reality and augmented reality to train both military units and civilian first responders. 

“We are pleased to be awarded $10 million dollars for collaboration with the Uniformed Services University to both improve the medical training and treatment given by responses to civilian acts of mass violence, austere environments and disasters while also improving the care that our military receives in combat. This award represents a critical investment in the future of battlefield medicine,” said David S. Markenson, M.D., Dr.P.H. '25, M.B.A., FACEP, medical director and director of the NYMC Center for Disaster Medicine and senior associate dean for research. “By combining New York Medical College's expertise in disaster medicine and emergency care with the Uniformed Services University's unparalleled military medical knowledge, we will develop the protocols, tools, and training that give warfighters and first responders the best possible chance of survival, no matter how remote or austere the environment.”

Virtual reality and augmented realty training tools developed through the program will address: 

• Combat and Civilian Medical Care in Austere Conditions
• Care in a Hostile Environment
• Response to Mass Violence like Mass Shooting Events
• Bleeding Control and Management
• Rural Responder Training
• Geographically Dispersed Education for Military and Civilian Teams
• Military and Civilian Team Training Using a Metaverse Approach for both VR and AR

The program will unfold in three phases over three years: an evaluation phase assessing existing military and civilian research and lessons learned; a development phase producing new care models, treatment algorithms, and VR/AR educational tools; and a pilot and distribution phase testing and broadly distributing the final models to military and civilian partners nationwide.