Medical Program Management/Product Development and Systems Management
The U.S. military faces an increasing number of multifaceted medical challenges. To address these challenges, the USAMRDC's product line encompasses a portfolio far more diverse and complex than any commercial medical product developer. This portfolio spans vaccines and biologics, hemorrhage control and resuscitation, neurotrauma and psychological health solutions, medical devices, information technology, medical support products for field hospitals, and the modernization of fielded medical devices.
RUNS ON OPERATIONAL READINESS
The Office of the Principal Assistant for Acquisition has the ultimate responsibility of bringing forward these new and improved medical materiel products to the end users. The development and fielding of these products involves the integration of diverse functions and communities, such as users, laboratories, commercial industry, resource management, and logistics. For vaccines, biologics, therapeutic drugs, and medical devices, product development along an acquisition pathway is paralleled by a separate development process along a regulatory pathway. These products cannot be fielded until they are licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making the FDA a key OPAA partner. Licensure by the FDA is the culmination of years, and in some cases decades, of dedicated research, development, test, and evaluation by USAMRDC personnel–before an emerging technology becomes a usable product.
While some USAMRDC products are used exclusively in fixed hospitals and clinics, many are carried directly to the front line by Soldiers and medics. In some cases, USAMRDC leverages products that are commercially available to meet capability gaps. However, products are also developed from the ground up from technologies only just emerging within USAMRDC laboratories or through partnerships with industry. In addressing the U.S. Army's requirements for medical materiel solution, medical acquisition personnel take into account current and future operations as they evaluate the threat environment, and then invest in the development of medical materiel products that will keep our Soldiers and our homeland safe and secure.
The broad scope of USAMRDC's product line, the cost and complexity of developing medical products, and the need to deliver medical products on time and on budget make USAMRDC's acquisition management one of the most critical functions in the Department of Defense.