More than 1,700 military medical clinicians and scientists joined academia and industry leaders to kick off the 2015 Military Health System Research Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Aug. 17.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson welcomed attendees during the opening session of the four-day conference Aug. 17-20, designed to highlight military-relevant research and development. Woodson spoke about future priorities for the military health system.

"We are in the midst of a major transformation in military medicine and as we pivot to the future -- as we come out of this decade plus of combat -- we need to understand what the imperatives are for the future," said Woodson. "As we look to the future, it will be necessary to redesign how we do business across many domains to show that we are better, stronger and more relevant to the times and challenges that are before us -- and there will be many."

MHSRS combined three previous conferences, including the former Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference; the Air Force Medical Service Medical Research Symposium; and the Navy Medicine Research Conference. By combining these conferences into one event, the meeting serves as a critical strategy session for leaders to set future milestones for the Department of Defense's deployment-related medical research programs, centered on the needs of the Warfighter.

"All of our efforts are aimed at enhancing our abilities to support the Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine, who may be called in harm's way in defense of this Nation," added Woodson. "Readiness, producing a healthy, trained, equipped individual prepared to do their job in defense of this Nation, will be paramount. There is a lot more that is expected of us, a lot more that will be required, and many more questions that have not been answered. This is our job here today and going into the future."