WASHINGTON — While Congress has yet to agree on a way forward to avoid a series of automatic federal budget cuts slated to go into effect in 2013, the Obama administration has made it clear that VA medical programs would not be slashed as a result of those cuts.

DURHAM, NC — Research into investigational drugs focuses on clinical safety and effectiveness after use and must assume that the correct drug was administered in the correct dose.

MILWAUKEE — Kayleen M. Wichlinski, RD, CD, is trying to improve the health of the hearts and minds of VA employees — through their stomachs.

For the first time in nearly 40 years, a U.S. servicemember died last year from rabies because of an overseas exposure to an infected dog, according to the national Centers for Disease Control, which emphasized that overseas travelers, including deployed military, need to be warned of the risks.

WASHINGTON —VA’s announcement that 1,900 mental-health staff will be added to its roster is more reactive than proactive, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told legislators at a recent hearing.  

SAN FRANCISCO — The full 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to overhaul VA’s mental-health system, as requested in a class-action suit claiming that VA does not provide mental healthcare in a timely factor.

WASHINGTON — A human clinical trial this year for a vaccine designed to protect against all four serotypes of the dengue virus is giving military researchers hope that they are closer to developing a vaccine against the debilitating disease.