Federal Diary: Sammies for VA scientists bring relief to battered agency

For an agency that has been under intense fire for months, the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals are a welcome relief.

The Department of Veterans Affairs had two winners of the awards, better known as Sammies, which are among the most prestigious given to federal employees. At a luncheon and an evening banquet on Monday, the Partnership for Public Service, the good-government group that sponsors the awards, paid tribute to all the winners and, by extension, the federal workforce they represent.

The Sammies focus not on whats wrong, but focus on whats right, said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership. We will have a better government if we pay more attention to that.

Its been hard to pay attention lately to the many things that are right about VA when news reports, inspector generals audits and congressional hearings understandably and correctly point to serious things that have gone wrong.

That makes it all the more refreshing to see that the cover-ups of long VA wait times, the bogus scheduling and the retaliation against whistleblowers have not diminished the enthusiasm of William A. Bauman and Ann M. Spungen. They are the director and associate director of rehabilitation research and development at VAs National Center of Excellence on the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury in the Bronx. Their work is life-changing and lifesaving. They won in the science and environment category.

The benefits of their research extend well beyond VA and veterans to medicine and rehabilitation generally.

The department of the VA is committed to performing high-quality research, Bauman said just outside the luncheon at the University Club on 16th Street NW. He exudes energy. Our work showcases one of the many exemplary, world-class research programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Were honored to be recognized, but I hope this award casts a sharp light on how incredibly valuable, practical, innovative and important VA research is, not only to the VA, but to all of American medicine and to advancing the science of medicine.

This is how the honorees work is described by the Partnership:

Their work led to the realization that persons with spinal cord injury are at a markedly increased risk for heart disease. These investigators were the first to describe and then treat an asthma-like lung condition common in those with higher levels of paralysis. They have developed approaches to make it easier for paralyzed patients to undergo successful colonoscopies.

With other researchers in their unit, they have formulated novel drug combinations to raise low blood pressure, and they have overseen the development of animal and clinical treatments to reduce bone loss shortly after spinal cord injury. Their work has advanced our understanding and treatment of chronic, non-healing pressure ulcers. Investigators under their direction also are making strides toward improving our understanding of body temperature regulation and the effect of swings in body temperature on ones ability to think.

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Federal Diary: Sammies for VA scientists bring relief to battered agency