Wilm. VA, Rowan team up for biomedical research for Vets

WILMINGTON – A new five-year partnership between two veterans organizations and a New Jersey college will help advance research on certain medical ailments common to those that served in the military. 

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is between the  Wilmington Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM), and the Veterans Health Foundation (VHF).

The MOU aims to expand collaboration of biomedical research training and research, while presenting benefits to institutions, veterans, and the public.

“It’s basically lung function. There’s a lot of emphasis in the VA on military exposure, so lung function fits with that priority,” said Suzanne Milbourne, chief for research and development at the Wilmington VA.

Acute brain injury and traumatic brain injury (TBI)  that’s experienced by veterans is another research  area of focus. 

“There are some researchers at Rowan focused on Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various non-clinical interventions, like music therapy and other types of therapies that help with PTSD,” Milbourne said. “We’re also building a portfolio around gastric ultrasound, in terms of pre-surgical preparation, ensuring that patients are effectively prepared and not put at risk for surgery.

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Milbourne said there are also some student projects that have been influential.

“Not so much research, but guiding some clinical interventions or clinical changes,” she said. “One is called the Split Flow Model, where students worked with our emergency department to put in place so that the efficiencies of the emergency room were increased. So there’s those projects too, that students kind of cultivate and bring to us.”

Wilmington VA’s Research and Development Office spearheaded this partnership to enhance veteran-focused research innovations and capacity at Wilmington VA with optics on developing new treatments and interventions to improve the health of veterans and the public.Wilmington VA’s health care system provides services at six locations throughout Delaware and southern New Jersey.

Its main medical center in Wilmington, and outpatient clinics in Kent and Sussex County – and Cumberland, Cape May, and Atlantic County, New Jersey serve more than 45,000 veterans.

There are no front-end costs associated with the MOU. 

“I call it an omnibus, an MOU that really sort of just sets the rules of engagement and the playing field,” Milbourne said.  “Once we establish and develop teams that are working on particular research projects, then there’s the potential that there would be funding exchange, and that’s where also the Veterans Health Foundation (VHF) comes into play, because there’s certain restrictions in terms of how money can flow based on the funding source for the research project.”

Richard Jermyn, dean of Rowan-Virtua SOM, said in a news release that the college is thrilled to partner with the VA and VHF on pioneering medical research to elevate clinical care for the nation’s heroes. 

“Our veteran community is already at the heart of our mission here at Rowan-Virtua SOM, whether it’s through training future physicians, conducting benchwork research, or engaging in community service,” he stated. “This dynamic collaboration between our dedicated faculty researchers, VA providers, and veterans themselves promises to spark innovations that can only emerge through teamwork. We are confident this initiative will become a national model for how academic institutions and veteran services can work together.”

Vet healthcare in the First State

Wilmington VA is the only VA healthcare system in Delaware and is an innovative care center within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 4 (VISN-4). 

VISN-4 also has medical centers in Altoona, Butler, Coatesville, Erie, Lebanon, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Wilkes-Barre, PA; and 44 outpatient clinics in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio. 

Milbourne said there were several reasons the connection with Rowan is a good fit. 

“They have some senior researchers who are already interested in conducting research with veterans in southern Jersey, and we have since onboarded some of our clinicians to partner with them on that research,” she said. “They also have a curriculum at Rowan where they infuse a research component into all four years of medical education.”

Rowan-Virtua SOM’s mission is to prepare its students to meet future healthcare workforce needs, advance research, innovation, and discovery to improve health; and solve medical challenges. 

The school emphasizes primary and interprofessional team-based care that responds to the needs of the community, including underserved and special needs populations.

One of Milbourne’s goals is to create a talent pipeline from Rowan into the VA so that the group can build its research workforce within the VA. 

“There was some natural fit that was pre-existing to my coming into the VA during COVID, but I was able to sort of capitalize on those relationships that were already in place,” she said. 

Milbourne stresses that there are resources for veterans to understand how they could contribute to or participate in the research.

For veterans interested in learning more about VA research and research participation, several VA Office of Research and Development resources are available at “For Veterans.” They can also visit the Wilmington VA web page for details about its research program.

“For more than 75 years, VA’s unique collaboration with its academic partnerships have really been the driving force behind a lot of scientific and medical discoveries,” Milbourne said, “and we’re hoping to build the Wilmington research program to contribute to that large national effort.”