CFI at BAMC hosts inaugural research symposium

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, June 13, 2024 – The Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center hosted the first Promoting Professional Engagement amongst Military Laboratories, or ProPEL, research symposium May 30.

“The Center for the Intrepid is hosting ProPEL to promote professional engagement amongst military laboratories at BAMC,” said Dr. Michelle Lockwood, research assistant in the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence in the Military Performance Lab at the CFI. “This event provides presenters and attendees the opportunity to network and promote interdisciplinary collaboration to advance client and patient centered evidence-based healthcare which aligns with the mission of the (Defense Health Agency).”

Lockwood and other CFI researchers invited participants from across Joint Base San Antonio to attend.

Amy Bowles, BAMC’s chief of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Clinic, brought a display to discuss the cognitive rehabilitation study she and her team conducted for individuals who had traumatic brain injury.

“It’s a new intervention we developed with our partners,” Bowles said. “A lot of the research we’ve done in the past, no one has really known about. So, events like this help us to collaborate and show us what is going on.”

Dr. W. Lee Childers, senior scientist at the CFI’s EACE, said he is proud of the work his team did to put the event together and feels it is important for researchers across the spectrum to continue to find innovative ways to work together.

“It’s the first time we’ve done an event like this, so all the turnout is great,” Childers said. “We have to keep in mind that we can’t collaborate if we don’t know what everyone is doing. So, events like this are a great first step.”

Lockwood said events like this bring together representatives from multiple disciplines to explore current and future challenges and opportunities in patient centered evidenced-based practices for advancing care.

“This is an inaugural event,” she said. “Events like this help provide a welcoming environment for the exchange of scientific ideas to expand our knowledge on identifying and tackling problems and developing solutions. We anticipate that this will serve as a ground-breaking opportunity to promote continuing and future collaborations and networking.”