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99th Medical Group wins research awards

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Mikaley Towle
  • 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) --  The 99th Medical Group's Family Medicine Residency (FMR) and Clinical Investigation Program (CIP) recently took home two research awards.

The CIP was presented with the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2014 Training and Education Award, and the FMR was presented with the 2015 Outstanding Achievement in Scholarly Activity Award by the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians.

"The primary mission of the CIP at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, is to support graduate medical education research and assist residents with writing and completing research projects," said Lt. Col. Paul Crawford, the 99th Medical Operations Squadron CIP and FMR program director.

FMR physicians work directly with the CIP to develop and test alternative treatments for pain, use nutraceuticals to treat and mitigate diseases and other conditions, and prevent Type II Diabetes through lifestyle intervention coaching.

The efforts of FMR and the CIP are collaborative in nature. The FMR physicians draft unique research questions and the CIP assists in developing the idea, gaining necessary approvals, and carrying out investigations.

"The CIP holds three investigational new drug applications through the Food and Drug Administration which tests nutraceuticals for various indications," said Jill Clark, the 99th MDOS clinical research manager.

According to Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Travis, the surgeon general of the Air Force, the CIP team, under Crawford's leadership, was recognized as being "instrumental in catapulting the Air Force CIP to new heights in 2014 ... and ensured 100% accreditation of Air Force student programs that are graduating the nation's best healthcare clinicians and scientists."

"FMR also participates in the Military Primary Care Research Network, which is a network of family medicine research sites coordinated by Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences," Clark said.

FMR was selected as a new CIP in fiscal year 2012, becoming the first and only CIP thus far in Air Combat Command.

"Winning these awards is a reflection of all the hard work that all the people here in CIP and FMR do every day," said Crawford. "Doing research is not a solitary activity. It requires people with many different skill sets on their team and it takes a big team to help bring a project to success."