Center for Military Performance & Resilience

Mission

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To conduct cutting-edge research in nutrition, performance, sleep, and behavior to benefit our military population

Vision

To improve the lives of military recruits, Soldiers, veterans, and their families

Army-Soldiers

Description

Readiness, performance, and resilience are top priorities for our nation's military. These issues impact new recruits, Soldiers, and extend to the veteran population. Soldiers frequently engage in operations during which they are subjected to multiple stressors, including energy deficit, high physical activity levels, sleep deprivation, and demanding cognitive tasks. Collectively, these stressors degrade physical strength, power, and endurance; immune function; cognition; and psychological state, leading to injury and attrition. Soldiers are also required to withstand, recover, and advance in the face of these stressors and changing demands. Strategies to provide cost-effective solutions for improving readiness and mitigating performance decrements are needed. Further, strategies to improve resilience are also required so that Soldiers can adapt more rapidly and readily in the face of adversity and recover from operational stress.

Since 1989, Pennington Biomedical and the U.S. Department of Defense have operated in a unique relationship that has resulted in support of over 150 projects and more than 130 jointly authored scientific publications. These projects have resulted in:

  • Better understanding of Soldiers' energy and nutrition requirements
  • Improvements in operational ration nutrition standards
  • Modification of garrison feeding to improve health during basic training
  • Development and dissemination of unique technology to improve the health of Soldiers and their families
  • Better understanding of the role of nutrition, physical activity, and sleep habits on Soldier performance and resilience

The strong history of collaboration coupled with the world-class research capabilities and facilities at Pennington Biomedical supports a program that identifies novel strategies for the optimization of readiness, performance, health, and resilience.