DoD launches new online medical research library focusing on deployments

WASHINGTON, October 3, 2003 (DeploymentLINK) - Information about deployment-related health research is now available on one central web site. The Department of Defense has created a centralized reference library, which went online today to help servicemembers, veterans, families and the public learn about government-sponsored research efforts into health concerns related to service during military deployments.

"The DeployMed Web site reflects the federal government's desire to make the results of government-sponsored research available to as many people as possible. The site will also provide scientists and others in the medical field the ability to learn about achievements and initiatives in deployment health medical research," said Francis O’Donnell, M.D., medical consultant with the DoD Deployment Health Support Directorate. DHSD, which is part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, developed, hosts and maintains DeployMed.

The online library’s roots are found in the Deployment Health Support Directorate's MedSearch site located on GulfLINK which is dedicated to government-sponsored research into the illnesses of Gulf War veterans. DeployMed, located on DeploymentLINK, is a more expansive source of information about military deployments in general. DeployMed includes the information from the MedSearch site for Gulf War-related research, however, it also contains information about medical research related to specific military deployments. For example, DeployMed contains articles about research into Bosnia (Operation Joint Guardian) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) military deployments.

The launch of DeployMed does not mean that MedSearch, the Gulf War research site, is going away.

"We will continue to update MedSearch with newly published research results, as well as information on newly funded Gulf War research projects," said O’Donnell.

DeployMed is divided into two primary sections: Research Topics and Reports. The Research Topics section of the Web site consists of funded projects and resultant publications organized by topic. The content in Research Topics is based on the layout of the "Annual Report to Congress, Federally Sponsored Research on Gulf War Veterans’ Illness for 2001," published by the Department of Veterans Affairs in March 2002.

The Reports section of the DeployMed site lists documents that reflect the U.S. Government’s efforts to record, investigate, research, explain, and prevent the occurrence of illness among veterans of military deployments. The documents are grouped according to the originating organization. The organizations are listed in alphabetical order.

A third section, called Publications, will eventually be part of DeployMed, providing links to the relevant part of the PubMed Web site where abstracts of publications may be viewed. The latter site is operated by the National Library of Medicine and contains information on purchasing copies of articles of interest.

DeployMed provides a link to the abstract or whole document for many of the publications, when available. If a link is not provided, your local public or medical library should be able to help you locate the text of the documents cited in DeployMed. Otherwise, the document may be available on PubMed, which charges a fee for a copy of the document. Another resource is any of the Web search engines on the Internet. Anyone who has problems locating a specific document is encouraged to contact us.

The criteria established for posting research in DeployMed are simple: the study must be federally sponsored and it must be related to deployment health.