Commander's Blog

As we wrap up fiscal year 2018, we should all be pleased with our great success over the past twelve months. I'm excited about the fiscal year close-out just ahead, as were on target to complete all of our financial transactions for the year. We've invested in many improvements to our building, and also in furniture to ensure that we help everyone get settled in after the USAMMA/USAMMDA transition. It's always busy at the end of each fiscal year, and I couldn't be more proud of the way our team has worked together to wrap up FY18. So I say "thank you" to our entire team for this great effort!

Last week, we held an awards ceremony to recognize our staff members' many contributions in support of the USAMMDA mission. Among these great accomplishments, we have seen tremendous success from our Pharmaceutical Systems Project Management Office regarding our tafenoquine product and our U.S.-based freeze-dried plasma, which is progressing steadily towards U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in FY19. Our Force Health Protection division received great news on the FDA approval of the Emergency Use Authorization for the French freeze-dried plasma that we currently use to save lives on the battlefield and beyond. And earlier this year, our Neurotrauma and Psychological Health PMO received FDA approval for the Laboratory Assay for Traumatic Brain Injury product/device, which is used to detect instances of mild TBI among our Service members. All of our USAMMDA team should be very proud of these success stories, and I'm sure we'll see many more in FY19. As for now, we should all remain focused on our programs as we head into the next fiscal year, so we can properly execute our funding dollars.

In the near future, we will have visitors from the Army Safety Health Management System (ASHMS) assessment team, who will be here to evaluate our culture of safety at USAMMDA. Without question, I am confident that we are continuing to do our best to maintain an extremely safe environment for our entire USAMMDA family. We all must remain vigilant at all times, and please don't hesitate to report any "near-misses," as these simple notifications will help us to prevent future accidents, regardless of the severity level. Every member of our team is extremely valuable in accomplishing our mission, and we simply can't afford any lost days due to an injury on the job. This is really easy to prevent when we all work together in remaining aware and staying safe.

Next month, we will hold an offsite Strategic Planning meeting, during which we'll review our progress on last year's priorities, and we'll be developing new priorities for the year ahead. I couldn't be more pleased with our team's focus over the past year, and I'm looking forward to another successful year as we strive to deliver medical solutions to our Warfighters.

And finally, with all the work that we do each week, we all need some downtime to relax, and fall is the perfect time to unwind by watching some football! The college and pro football seasons are in full swing, and we've already seen some exciting games across the country. Fall is my family's favorite time of year, not only for football but for all of the fun things to do outdoors across the region. The Great Frederick Fair is taking place this week, and the Catoctin Colorfest in Thurmont will be held next month. The leaves will be changing soon, so it's always a beautiful scene throughout Frederick County. If you're looking for some ideas of things to do, you can visit the county's website at www.visitfrederick.org.

Let's always remember that we're saving lives with everything we do here at USAMMDA!

COL Ryan Bailey