National Research Action Plan
iii
NRAP Vision for the Future
The agencies anticipate that basic insights,
garnered through NRAP efforts, will help
lead to translational advances in the
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of
PTSD, TBI, suicidal behaviors, and co-
occurring conditions, including substance
abuse, in service members, Veterans, and
their families. Subsequently, better
preventive and therapeutic interventions
would be expected to help lead to
improved health, function, and quality of
life for people experiencing these
conditions, and their families.
Funding and Prioritization
The agencies intend to focus and collaborate on
the topics identified in this document. These
efforts will be supported within existing agency
budgets. The agencies will follow their
established planning, programming, and
budgeting processes and priorities will be
supported as feasible within available
resources. In a time of constrained resources,
the agencies will continue to direct resources to
high-priority activities.
The ability to leverage existing and emerging
information technology will be a key factor in
successfully coordinating and accelerating research
under the NRAP. Transparent and accessible
information about the agencies’ ongoing and
planned efforts will guide the agencies and
researchers alike to reduce overlap, eliminate
redundancies, identify gaps, and focus new
research questions. Publicly accessible databases
that contain information about funded grants (e.g.,
National Institutes of Health [NIH] Research
Portfolio Online Reporting Tools, which is used by
VA and NIH) act as repositories for government-sponsored research. A new commitment will be
to analyze the costs, benefits, and utility of moving the DoD’s medical research onto the NIH
Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools system as well as related systems such as Electronic
Research Administration Commons, thus promoting a higher level of transparency and analysis
across agencies and for the public. Beyond the transparent sharing of data about funded studies, a
commitment will be made to promote the standardization and sharing of de-identified study level
(raw) data, with the appropriate consent, confidentiality and privacy protections within legal
authority. Many smaller studies are able to involve only a modest number of participants;
therefore, the ability to share study data when appropriate will increase the power for analyses
and potentially accelerate research progress. In addition, large-scale studies supported by each
agency provide a platform for rich secondary data analyses when study-level data are shared.
Central repositories such as the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research
Informatics System may be leveraged in these data-sharing efforts. The agencies have begun
discussions to determine how to more efficiently share data; details can be found in the report.
This NRAP will complement the 2013 Interim Report of the Interagency Task Force on Military
and Veterans Mental Health (May 2013) to ensure that Veterans, service members, and their
families receive necessary mental health services and support. Close collaborations between the
agencies will expedite fulfillment of the strategies outlined in the NRAP. The DoD, VA, HHS,
and the Department of Education understand the
gravity and urgency of the problems and are committed
to advancing the health of our military and nation
through their collective research. To ensure progress
and success, the agencies will schedule formal joint
review and analysis of efforts. Further, continued
analysis of needs using the Interagency Research
Continuum Approach is planned. The Agency research
working group co-chairs will be responsible for
overseeing the formation of any necessary new
workgroups or initiatives to deliver on the plans of this
NRAP. Collectively, these activities will support the
Order’s research goals to prevent suicide, to reduce the
number of individuals affected by PTSD, TBI, and
comorbidities, and to improve the quality of life of