“The start of the Restoring Active Memory program marks an exciting opportunity to reveal many new aspects of human memory and learn about the brain in ways that were never before possible,” Sanchez said. “Anyone who has witnessed the effects of memory loss in another person knows its toll and how few options are available to treat it. We’re going to apply the knowledge and understanding gained in RAM to develop new options for treatment through technology.”

In her opening remarks to the Brain Health Consortium at Defense Health Headquarters in April 2014, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho called brain health both the “new frontier” in science and a central focus of military health and medicine, for the benefit of warfighters’ military and civilian lives, their families, and the nation as a whole.

“Ultimately, the decisions made by the brain impact our overall health and also our well-being,” Horoho said. “The brain, through our daily decisions, becomes the gatekeeper of the health and fitness of our bodies.”

Implanting computer chips or devices inside the human brain is one of the most controversial ideas for treatment – even beyond those doctors and veterans advocating the use of marijuana to reduce symptoms related to PTSD. But while DARPA’s approach is revolutionary, more than 100,000 individuals already have deep brain stimulating implants to help them with Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. RAM is unique in its focus on specific brain interfaces to restore memory function.

Even so, Dr. William Casebeer, a program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said the agency has developed a process called the “Three Cs Framework” – character, consent, consequence – that examines ethical and moral issues arising from neurotechnology developments.

“The idea of evaluating character-oriented dimensions of technology really is an ancient one that stems from Aristotle and Plato and their examination and articulation of virtue theory,” he said. “If we examine those three Cs I think, along all three of them, we see a lot of support for exactly the kind of technology development that Dr. Sanchez will be pursuing in the RAM program.”

Veterans diagnosed with TBI are not the only ones for whom help is being sought by DOD and the VA; new programs also are being developed for their families.

DVBIC’s 15-year longitudinal studies are integrating a collection of research examining the effects of TBI on the families of service members and veterans who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within that program, which studies the long-term effects of TBI for up to 15 years after the injury, the “Caregiver Study” observes the overall health and well-being of family members caring for a service member or veteran with TBI to identify factors that can improve caregivers’ quality of life.

“For caregivers, deployment places a strain on the family,” said Dr. Louis French, the Longitudinal Study’s principal investigator. “The Caregiver Study portion of the 15-year study will allow us to gain a better understanding of how much additional burden is placed on the family dynamic with an injured loved one. For example, does the family need more medical care themselves or are they in emotional distress? This study will provide valuable input about the need for additional resources, inefficient allocation of resources, or other key information from this under-examined group.”

Throughout history, war has led to major improvements in technology and knowledge. Since the start of the 20th century, those advances often have taken medicine and science to new levels previously found only in science fiction. So far, the 21st century has set a new standard for such developments, from prosthetics to computers to robotics – and, now, the human brain.

“This is a truly remarkable period of time,” Sanchez said. “To think about how we are going to learn about memory in the human brain, to think about the potential for developing those next-generation medical neuroprosthetic devices that can provide new options for our injured military personnel, is truly remarkable.”

This article first appeared in The Year in Veterans Affairs & Military Medicine 2014-2015 Edition.