Infectious Disease Consequences and Mitigation: NMRC Commander Discusses Outbreaks, Future Collaborations, During Visit to Notre Dame

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Capt. Franca Jones, commander, Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC), met with scientists and directors during a visit to the University of Notre Dame on October 9 to discuss ongoing command work and future collaborations.

Jones visited with Notre Dame experts in infectious disease, vaccine development and biomedical applications to identify areas for NMRC and the university to work together on future research ventures.

“The Eck Institute for Global Health was honored to organize and host NMRC leadership’s first visit to Notre Dame,” said Tim Weber, associate director of the Institute. “The University of Notre Dame and the Department of the Navy have a proud tradition of working together in many research areas. NMRC’s visit was an excellent opportunity to bring two world-class research organizations together to tackle important global health problems while improving the health and readiness of our country’s Sailors and Marines.”

Jones also spoke on the impact of infectious disease on global health and U.S. military readiness during a presentation to undergraduate and graduate students. Military readiness in response to infectious disease outbreaks requires constant efforts on the part of research and development organizations. Illness caused by infectious diseases, which can spread rapidly in close-quarters, such as those found in the shipboard environment, can take service members out of their roles for prolonged periods of time, negatively effecting the military’s capabilities.

Jones, who joined the U.S. Navy as a microbiologist in 2001, highlighted the role of organizations within the U.S. Navy, such as Navy Medicine Research and Development (NMR&D), in effectively identifying and curbing the negative effects of infectious disease outbreaks.

“It is critical that NMR&D collaborate with scientists in academia and industry to achieve our goal to ensure warfighter readiness,” Jones observed. “In particular, our collaboration with Notre Dame on bio surveillance will ensure that our warfighters and the medical providers who take care of them understand the infectious disease threats that may impact readiness.

“Expanding on this partnership with Notre Dame to areas such as wound care, drug and diagnostic development, and detection of environmental exposures may serve to improve warfighter readiness in the future,” Jones added.

Jones also discussed the negative impacts of infectious disease outbreaks on global health. Infectious diseases impact the health security of our nation and other nations by increasing morbidity and mortality and destabilizing health infrastructure.

Outbreaks of Infectious disease can also cause, directly or indirectly, contamination of food and water. These contaminations can cause additional sickness and erode confidence in food security. Infectious disease impacts on workers in the food production and transportation industries can further erode food security on a national scale, in addition to broader consequences for the economy and individuals’ job security, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in closing borders, closing stores and layoffs, among other outcomes.

Jones’ presentation was part of the Eck Institute for Global Health’s Global Health Colloquium, a recurring program of speakers in the health sciences who address topics relevant to global health.

NMR&D, led by NMRC, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of the Navy, Marine Corps, and joint U.S. warfighters, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, medical modeling, simulation, operational mission support, epidemiology and behavioral sciences.