The Armed Forces RadiobiologyResearch Institute (AFRRI), home of the Defense Department’s MedicalRadiological Defense Research Program, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010. Construction of the facility began in 1960, and AFRRI was established as a joint agency of the three military services in 1961. Its mission is to preserve the health and performance of U.S.military personnel and to protecthumankind through research that advances understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation. To these ends, theinstitute collaborates with other government facilities, academic institutions, and civilian laboratories in the U.S. and other countries. In addition, the institute provides medical training and emergency response to manage incidentsrelated to radiation exposure.

Joint Task Force National CapitalRegion-Medical

The Defense Department established Joint Task Force National CapitalRegion-Medical in 2007 as a standing Joint Task Force reporting directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF) to oversee, manage, and direct all health care delivery by military medical units in the JointOperating Area (JOA) and to ensure the military medical readiness of personnel within the JOA. As part of this responsibility, the JTF also coordinates and oversees the integration and BaseRealignment and Closure process for medical treatment facilities in theNational Capital Region (NCR). The command oversees, manages, anddistributes military health assets andresources in the JOA. This activityensures our beneficiaries receiveunparalleled world class health care. The JTF coordination of health care in the JOA eliminates redundancies, enhances clinical care, promotes health professions education and joint training and enhances military medical research opportunities. In addition to integrating medical resources between the Army, Navy, and Air Force in the region and overseeing the Base Realignment and Closure changes, the task force is the management agent for the construction of the hospital at Fort Belvoir and the construction and renovation of thefuture Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda. Thecommand is projected to be permanently populated with approximately 152military and civilian personnel.

Naval Dosimetry Center

The Naval Dosimetry Center (NDC) is an echelon five command under the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, Portsmouth, VA. Since its inception in 1968 as the Radiation Safety Service of the National Naval Medical Center, it has provided dosimetry services for ionizing radiation to the Navy. NDC is the military’s largest dosimetry service provider and is one of two technical centers that support the NavalNuclear Propulsion Program and the Naval Master Material License under the hospice of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by providing personnel dosimetry and maintaining the Navy’s radiation exposure registry for all records associated with personnel exposures. The Navy’s Automated Radiation Exposure Registry (NARER) contains over 7 million historical exposures from the inception of the Navy entering into the nuclear age in 1947. NDC’s wholebody and extremity dosimetry services are accredited through the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) administered through Commerce Department, National Institute for Standards and Technology. NDC is the sole calibration center for the U.S. Navy’s distributed dosimetry system comprising 17 laboratories worldwide. NDC also maintains an In Vivo Gamma Spectroscopy facility for monitoring internal radioactivity in personnel. The center provides technical consultation services onmatters related to ionizing radiation to over 300 commands; provides anextensive training program for newly acquired Radiation Health Officers; conducts cooperative research withuniversities and research institutes; and provides instructors for courses taught at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.

Naval Medical Research Center

The Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) conducts health and medical research, development, testing, evaluation, and surveillance to enhance the operational readiness and performance of DoD personnel worldwide. NMRC is the Navy’s largest biomedical research facility and serves as the Echelon-4 headquarters command to nine subordinate Navy medical research and development (NMR&D) laboratories through-out the U.S. and overseas (Indonesia, Egypt and Peru). With a staff of nearly 1,700, the NMRC research covers infectious diseases, biological warfare defense, directed energy bioeffects, combat casualty care, dental, environmental health, bone marrow transplantation, aerospace and undersea medicine, medical modeling, simulation and mission support, warfighter performance, epidemiology and behavioral science. The NMRC headquarters are located in the Inouye Bldg. on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Forest Glen Annex in Silver Spring, Md.

Navy Medicine MPT&E Command, Bethesda, Md.

The Navy Medicine Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education Command (NAVMED MPT&E) is an Echelon 4 headquarters command responsible to the Commander, Navy Medicine Support Command and the Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). NAVMED MPT&E was established as a result of reorganizing Navy Medicine’s education and training structure and supporting the Navy’s Revolution in Training.

NAVMED MPT&E’s responsibilities include the control, administration and management of health sciences education and training as well as coordination and budget execution of Navy Medicine Officer Special Pays Program and Medical Department Accessions Programs. NAVMED MPT&E continues to provide specialty education and training within its facilities to officers and enlisted personnel. The command is organized into six major areas: