Research, Quality Assurance, Program Evaluation and Surveillance Directorate
Mission:
To improve psychological health and traumatic brain injury outcomes through research; quality programs and evaluation; and surveillance for our service members and their families.
Director:
Col. Richard Ricciardi
Overview:
The directorate collaborates with numerous federal and non-federal partners and a network of other civilian agencies, community leaders, professional societies, academia, industry and the scientific community.
Ongoing work includes: planning a research program portfolio synchronization conference on psychological health (PH) and traumatic brain injury (TBI); developing a centralized research proposal database on PH and TBI; collaborating with federal and non-federal agencies, industry and academia to ensure a more thorough research gap analysis; leading efforts towards standardization in definitions, metrics, measures and outcomes in PH/TBI research; participating in the clinical consortia meetings; evaluating funded PH/TBI programs; and coordinating with designated liaisons between federal and non-federal agencies.
Goals and Objectives:
The directorate has multiple goals and objectives in relation to its division missions, all supporting its overarching goal of developing and assessing evidence for improved PH and TBI care using research, surveillance, state of the art treatment, and community support to improve care for America’s warriors, families, leaders and communities.
Directorate Divisions:
- The Research Division facilitates scientific inquiry addressing critical areas in the fields of PH and TBI; supports and conducts scientifically meritorious, mission-relevant research to address PH issues and improve recovery of TBI patients; reviews and recommends funding of new and ongoing research protocols.
- The Quality Assurance Division develops and implements processes to conduct quality control evaluations of programs and initiatives, and serves as a resource for the organization for metric development and evaluating progress
- The Program Evaluation Division evaluates new and ongoing funded programs that address critical areas to improve PH and decrease effects of TBI; uses empirical evidence gathered through evaluation to guide evidence-based practice and development of useful clinical practice guidelines; conducts site visits to evaluate the progress and quality of funded programs by evaluating metrics; and provides recommendations concerning continued funding or program implementation.The Surveillance Division develops and maintains awareness of patient tracking databases with a focus on PH and TBI, including registries and epidemiological and surveillance databases; participates in tracking of patient epidemiological and longitudinal data that describe the natural history of PH/TBI; uses empirical evidence to guide evidence-based practice and development of useful clinical practice guidelines; and prepares appropriate reports on PH/TBI issues.