A Call To Action: Friedrichs Challenges Military Medical Conference Attendees to “Be Bold”
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Paul Friedrichs, the director of the new White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, spoke at the Military Health System Research Symposium to over 3,800 attendees.
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Dr. Paul Friedrichs, USU alumnus and director of the newly established White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, called for audience members to "be bold." (Photo credit: Sarah Marshall, USU) |
August 16, 2023 by Sharon Holland
“One hundred years ago the best researchers were the ones who said ‘I will not accept what happened’ and ‘we can do better.’”
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Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Paul Friedrichs, a 1990 graduate of USU and the director of the new White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. (Photo credit: Eric R. Dietrich) |
“What did we learn from the last three and a half years that we will not accept?” he asked.
Friedrichs, a 1990 graduate of the Uniformed Services University (USU), also told the audience that artificial intelligence and biotechnology capabilities that produce large amounts of data are rapidly evolving and have the potential to revolutionize medicine. He cautioned that there is risk that the technology and data can be misused, and he asked the crowd to help build “guardrails” to build the norms to appropriately use data and technologies to move forward.
“We are at a point right now in the history of medicine where what we understand about how to help patients is growing at a phenomenal rate. The technologies that enable us to help people who rely on us for care are also growing at a phenomenal rate. ... If you want to redesign our healthcare system, this is most likely the place to do it. And that offers you an incredible opportunity to look forward at how we leverage the tremendous amount of data that we’ve collected over the last three and a half years and the advances that are occurring in biotechnology and come up with novel solutions,” Friedrichs said.
He relayed that prior to the pandemic there were huge workforce shortfalls around the world in healthcare disciplines, and that technology should be leveraged to train more people who are willing to help provide future doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others the tools they need to deliver care where it’s needed, when it’s needed.
“This has direct applicability for what we have to do in military medicine because we are constantly looking for better ways to train those who will work far forward. How do we now do that with a 21st century approach that allows us to put the technology in the palm of that young medic out there on the front lines, in an austere combat environment so that he can make the right choices? That technology exists today and we need you all, as our researchers and developers, to move us forward. That same medic is going to need the same thing that his predecessors needed 100 years ago in World War I. He’s going to need blood, she’s going to need to have something to carry on her person and rapidly administer at the point of injury if possible, or as close as it can be given,” Friedrichs stated.
“If you think about that front line medic working in whatever sort of degraded environment – from a biological threat to a combat threat – think about what he or she will need. Not only are they going to need blood, they’re going to need supplies. How do we rethink our entire logistics ability, leveraging our remarkable tools like 3D printing? Why do we have to keep producing everything back home, shipping it overseas, and then deploying it far forward? How do we miniaturize those printers so that we can actually make it possible for our forward units to produce the parts and pieces that they need rather than having to bring it to them in an environment that puts everybody at risk? The same with a bag of fluid, and potable water. The technology exists to do that but we need your help to continue to miniaturize and improve it so we can bring it far forward and not have to transport tons of sterile fluid or drinking water.”
Friedrichs urged conference attendees to look beyond the immediate roadblocks to get things done. “I challenge you to be bold. I challenge you to care about how to help people and not about a bureaucratic rule that prevents you from moving forward. Our challenge is how do we leave this better for when the next pandemic occurs, when the next biological threat occurs?”
He said that innovation should not be stifled by regulation, and that attendees should take advantage of the tremendous opportunities facing them to “do great good”.
“We owe you a system that helps you bring the products of your work forward to help those who rely on all of us to be there when they need us.”
