The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command hosted representatives of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces Medical Command to discuss important and emerging topics in military health care as part of the 51st annual Technology Cooperation Subcommittee Medical Working Group at Fort Detrick Nov. 7-8.
Participants engaged in two days of collaborative discussions on topics such as telemedicine and autonomous care, chemical agent countermeasures, AI and medical imaging and vaccine development. They also toured MRDC’s Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick and traveled to Bethesda to tour the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University on Nov. 9.
“We have grown from a simple data-sharing agreement into a complex, influential series of scientific meetings,” said Brig. Gen. Edward H. Bailey, MRDC’s commanding general, during his opening remarks. “It’s the professional relationships that allow us to make significant military medical advances that benefit both of our countries.”
Bailey was joined by Dr. Dana J. Johnson, director of international outreach and policy in the DOD’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, MRDC Principal Assistant for Acquisition Dawn L. Rosarius and Principal Assistant for Research and Technology Dr. Mark T. Dertzbaugh and representatives from MRDC’s direct reporting units. Brig. Gen. BeomMan Ha, ROK AFMC commander, led the South Korean delegation.
A centerpiece of this year’s meeting was a discussion of the proposed Korean Intellectual Property International Consortium, a pilot project designed to facilitate the international licensing of patents. Intellectual property consortia are designed to help businesses reach more markets by paying the expenses of filing patents in their countries in exchange for obtaining exclusive marketing rights to the patented inventions. In addition to providing early access to leading-edge medical technologies and revenue from sales of the inventions, intellectual property consortia can lead to lower development costs for new products and help safeguard intellectual property rights.
“Our ability to lower the development costs jointly come from working together scientifically and clinically,” said Barry M. Datlof, MRDC’s chief of business development and commercialization, during his presentation at the meeting. “From a business point of view, coordinating intellectual property throughout the world makes the entire process more likely to be a success.”
The annual working group meeting typically alternates between the United States and South Korea. Due to scheduling considerations, this year’s event was the second in a row hosted by MRDC at Fort Detrick.
At the conclusion of the meeting, participants reviewed action items and discussed avenues for future collaboration.
“There is a direct correlation between your dedication to military medicine and successful meeting results like what we experienced the past two days,” Bailey said to the participants in his concluding remarks. “We part ways today with a unified vision.”
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