United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine is the U.S Army’s main institution and facility for military environmental medicine and exercise physiology research. It is located at Natick, Massachusetts, within the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center installation, but is a subordinate lab of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA.
Mission
USARIEM’s Mission Statement mandates that the Institute:The Institute has four divisions, each relating to military human performance as it relates to the environment — Biophysical and Biomedical Modeling, Military Nutrition, Military Performance, and Thermal and Mountain Medicine. Research in the divisions focuses on three elements: the servicemember, the environment, and the mission.
Research on the effect of environmental pollutants on military personnel is not part of USARIEM's mission, but is within the purview of the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
History
USARIEM traces its institutional lineage back to 1927 and the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory. That facility fostered two institutions that ultimately merged. The first was the Climatic Research Laboratory in Lawrence, MA, which relocated to Natick in 1954 under the new name of the Environmental Protection Research Division of the U.S. Army’s Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command. The second was the Armored Medical Research Laboratory at Fort Knox, KY elements of which joined with the EPRD in 1961 to constitute the present USARIEM facility and organization.Products and capabilities
USARIEM’s basic and applied research capabilities are focused upon biomedical evaluations, health hazard assessments, countermeasures development and a rapid response to a diverse range of environmental threats and problems. Products include individual soldier equipment and rations; guidelines pertaining to training policy and preventive medicine; and performance monitoring strategies and predictive algorithms.Research Divisions
Research divisions within USARIEM consist of Biophysics and Biomedical Modeling , Military Performance, Military Nutrition, and Thermal and Mountain Medicine.Facilities
USARIEM maintains several unique or highly specialized facilities:- Hypobaric Chamber Facility or HCF
- * Two Class D chambers rarefied air atmosphere, non-oxygen enriched
- ** Large Study Chamber: internal volume of 2000 cu. ft.
- ** Small Study Chamber: internal volume of 1100 cu. ft.
- * Environmentally controlled & connected by an airlock
- ** Simulates altitudes of 800-225 Torr
- ** Temperatures from -32 °C to 43 °C
- ** Relative humidity between 20-80%
- * 23,656 simulated altitude exposures of human volunteers over 33 years of studies
- 13 Environmental Chambers
- * Temperatures from -10 °C to 50 °C
- 5 Biophysical Evaluation Chambers
- * Temperatures from -10 °C to 50 °C
- Biomechanics Laboratory
- Water Immersion Laboratory
- * Temperatures from 5 °C to 45 °C
- Human Exercise Physiology Laboratory
- Human/Animal Physiology Laboratory
- Psychology Laboratory
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory
- Animal Housing and Care Facility
- * Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International Accredited
- Doriot Climatic Chamber Complex
- * Temperatures from -57 °C to 74 °C
- Laser and Flow Cytometry
- United States Army Pike’s Peak Research Laboratory
- *Located in Colorado at 4,300 m
List of USARIEM commanders
| Number | Tenure | Commander |
| 1 | 1961–1962 | CPT Robert J. T. Joy, MD |
| 2 | 1962–1965 | LTC William H. Hall, MD |
| 3 | 1965–1971 | COL James E. Hansen, MD |
| 4 | 1971–1976 | COL LeeRoy G. Jones, MD |
| 5 | 1976–1980 | COL Harry G. Dangerfield, MD |
| 6 | 1980–1982 | COL Eliot J. Pearlman, MD |
| 7 | 1982–1984 | COL Ernest M. Irons, Jr., MD |
| 8 | 1984–1986 | COL Brendon E. Joyce, MD |
| 9 | 1986–1989 | COL David D. Schnakenberg, PhD |
| 10 | 1989–1990 | COL Joseph C. Denniston, DVM |
| 11 | 1990–1994 | COL Gerald P. Krueger, PhD |
| 12 | 1994–1997 | COL Joel T. Hiatt, MS |
| 13 | 1997–2000 | COL David M. Penetar, PhD |
| 14 | 2000–2003 | COL John P. Obusek, PT, PhD |
| 15 | 2003–2006 | COL Karl E. Friedl, PhD |
| 16 | 2006-2008 | COL Beau J. Freund, PhD |
| 17 | 2008-2010 | COL Kevin Keenan, M.D., M.P.H. |
| 18 | 2010-2012 | COL Gaston P. Bathalon, RD, PhD |
| 19 | 2012–2014 | COL Deborah L. Whitmer, D.V.M. |
| 20 | 2014-2016 | COL Thomas G. Eccles III, M.D. |
| 21 | 2016–2018 | COL Raymond Phua, tDPT |
| 22 | 2018–2020 | COL Sean S. O'Neil, PhD |