Uniformed Scientists Do Unique Work

Taxi YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY: British military medical men of a foregone era hunker down for a good peer through their microscopes. Today, military scientists are allowed to conduct independent research; in the US Navy, a junior scientist often gets his or her own lab. Most people joining the armed forces usually want to serve in a certain branch. Not Stan Cope. When he finished his doctorate in tropical medicine and infectious disease 15 years ago at the University of California, Los Angeles, he knew only that he wanted to be a military scientist. With no emotional or professional preference for the Army or Navy, he based his choice on looks. Olive green lost. "Actually, I joined the Navy because I liked the uniforms better," says Cope, now a Navy commander. Today Cope is looking sharp in his dress whites as executive officer of the Naval Institute for Dental and Biomedical Research, Great Lakes, Ill. He also is one of 1,500 life scientists currently wearing the uniforms of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, according to Todaysmilitary.com, a Web site operated by the US Department of Defense. The armed services are always looking for new recruits to fill vacancies created by retirement or to staff new research projects. "For the most part the Navy scientists go out and recruit their peers," says William Stover, a captain and assistant for policy and specialty leader support for the Navy's Medical Service Corp. "Navy scientists go to meetings or read journals for research we are concerned about." Scientists aren't known for queuing up to be fitted for a uniform. Most probably never even consider military service as a career option. "I've gotten questions literally like, are you allowed to take your uniform off when you go home at night?" Cope says. "I laugh, but when you think of it, you've got a long way to go with something like that." GOVERNMENT RESEARCH FUNDS One result of the war on terror has been an infusion of money into the military's research and development budgets. But whether you are inside or outside the government, the competition for funds is stiff. "We compete amongst ourselves," says Wil Milhous, a former Army colonel who recently retired as head of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and is now director of the institute's experimental therapeutics division. "Every scientist must write a proposal that goes to review board with the expertise in drug development." For scientists outside the government, the best way to win a grant is to read agency announcements listed by the armed services at their Web sites (www.usamraa.army.mil and www.onr.navy.mil). The Navy's Young Investigator Program (www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/industrial/yip.htm) is designed for university postdocs. The awards can amount to as much as $100,000 a year for three years, with the possibility of additional support for equipment. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) expects to make 24 awards in fiscal year 2004. The ONR also has program managers who scan journals, read the latest papers, and attend professional meetings to find appropriate projects for their programs. "We probably have more contract research going on than we have civilian researchers, particularly in the life sciences," says William Stover, a captain and assistant for policy and specialty leader support for the Navy's Medical Service Corp. Both the Army and Navy have an initial short application form that allows scientists to give a brief outline of proposed research. "It's a big effort to submit a complete science proposal so we want to spare them the effort," says Chuck Dasey, a public affairs officer at Walter Reed. Once the short-form is accepted, applicants receive a longer one and an officer negotiates the final details. UNCLE SAM IN THE LAB As it turns out, life scientists in the military do remarkably similar work in remarkably similar surroundings as do their civilian counterparts. Postdoctoral fellows enter the service at the rank of captain (or Navy lieutenant). Entering scientists can be no more than 35 years old. And unlike their peers in academia or industry, young scientists are charged with independent research. "As a junior scientist in the Navy you frequently get your own lab from the beginning," Cope says. Army and Navy life scientists are usually assigned to state-of-the-art labs, in clinical or basic science, inside the United States or around the world. Their work includes basic bench science, long-term field trials, and experiments aboard ship. If you find the thought of bobbing around in the ocean aboard a ship unappealing, don't worry. The Navy does not require its life scientists to shiver their timbers at sea. In 15 years Cope says he has spent only five days at sea, and at his request. Navy life scientists do go aboard ships while they are tied up in port. But some, like entomologists, deploy with the Marines. The Navy also helps scientists develop two distinct career paths, as an officer and leader and as a researcher, Cope says. "When you get out you are really marketable and you got this nice fat retirement," he adds. Promotion in the Army and Navy requires what Cope calls punching tickets--migrating from place and job. "So you can't just rattle around and do bench science and be a full colonel," says Wil Milhous, a former Army colonel who recently retired as director of the Division of Experimental Therapeutics at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the oldest school of public health and preventive medicine in the country. "You still have to go someplace and look different. You have to have total commitment and know that when your country calls you have to get your butt out and do it." DRUG DISCOVERY For Milhous "total commitment" meant stints in remote parts of the world, including the Amazon basin in Brazil where he field-tested a compound for a malaria vaccine he had developed. He has no regrets. "Having your compound go through clinical trials and become an approved drug and see children take it, that's a homerun," says Milhous. "I've had two opportunities to [see a drug I developed] go benchtop to bedside, and that is hard to do at a pharmaceutical company." The military does partner with pharmaceutical companies. Of course, commercial viability is secondary to the Navy and Army. "Our research, almost by mandate, has to be something that supports the war fighter," Cope says. "We should be very product driven." Milhous agrees, noting that the work on the front burner is based on a threat list. Today that means bioterrorism. Currently the Army and Navy have large-scale vaccine trials for compounds to combat malaria, dengue fever, and diarrheal diseases. "We are really concerned about keeping bugs and disease away from people," Stover says. "So we have researchers doing work on malaria vaccines, and we are working [with] the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration for new pesticides." Both Milhous and Cope understand that military life isn't for everyone. But for a scientist, a stint in the armed forces may reap only benefits. "The worse thing that can happen is you do it for three or four years and then go to industry with some hands-on experience," Milhous says. "I hope people understand that this [work] is really important." Bob Calandra (rotoca@aol.com) is a freelance writer in Philadelphia. function sendData() { document.frm.pathName.value = location.pathname; result = false if (document.frm.score[0].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[1].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[2].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[3].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[4].checked) result = true; if (!result) alert("Please select") return result; } .myradio{background-color : #94bee5} Please indicate on a 1 - 5 scale how strongly you would recommend this article to your colleagues? Not recommended 1 2 3 4 5 Highly recommended Please register your vote

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