Military Medical Department Research Centers

We review our research with military Medical Department Research Centers (MDRC; a pseudonym).In 2006, we first proposed an electronic data system with metrics to better measure performance for the MDRCs. The data management system evolved into an electronic system for an Institutional Review Board (e-IRB) at one site. We foresaw that an e-IRB could provide the metrics to better monitor MDRC practices. Now that the eIRB is operational, metrics can measure how well the present mission of the MDRCs is being met across its system (improved patient care, increased scientific knowledge, and improved graduate student education); and, how well its vision is achieved (transforming the present mission of MDRCs to prepare for future missions).