VIENNA, Va. — Ed Ball, executive director of Shelby County Veterans Office, recently participated as a consumer reviewer in the evaluation of research applications submitted to the Fiscal Year 2017 Joint Program Committee 8/Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program (CRMRP).
This program is sponsored by the Department of Defense with execution management support provided by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). Ball was nominated/recommended for participation in the program by Heroes with Hearing Loss. As a consumer reviewer, he served as a full voting member of the peer review panels, along with prominent scientists and other experts.
Consumer reviewers are asked to represent the collective view of patients and family members and provide comments on the impact of the research they’ve been asked to review. This research focuses on issues such as advancing treatment or assessment strategies and evidence-based practices in order to optimize the rehabilitation of vestibular and hearing dysfunction resulting from military service-related injuries.
Commenting on serving as a consumer reviewer, Ball said, “This was an honor and privilege to represent not only our veterans as consumers, but to provide researchers a greater understanding of military service and exposure to traumatic acoustic events and the VA claims development and appeals process.”
Consumer reviewers and scientists have worked together in this unique partnership to evaluate the scientific merit of research applications since the establishment of the CDMRP.
Dr. Colonel Wanda L. Salzer, director of the CDMRP, expressed her appreciation for the perspectives of the consumer advocates in the scientific review sessions.
“The consumer reviewers on each panel are instrumental in helping the scientists understand the patient’s perspective and provide valuable insight into the potential impact of the proposed project. They bring with them a sense of urgency and remind all of the human element involved in medical research,” she said.
Scientists applying propose to conduct innovative research to support areas including translational preclinical research, observational studies and early-stage clinical trials addressing auditory and vestibular dysfunction associated with military service. The CRMRP fills important gaps not addressed by other funding agencies by supporting groundbreaking, high-risk, high-gain research while encouraging out-of-the-box thinking.
