Report is a 30 year review of originally the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit whose name was changed to Naval Health Research Center. This review provides a brief overview of the Center's origin, progress, achievements and current mission and functions. It provides a summary of each department's current research program and lists present and former military and civilian staff members, and student assistants. Also, the personal observation and recollections of three distinguished colleages associated with the founding and growth of the laboratory are included. The NHRC Report for 1979 also provides indepth information on the Vicennial activities held on 1 Oct 1979.

Report is a 30 year review of originally the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit whose name was changed to Naval Health Research Center. This review provides a brief overview of the Center's origin, progress, achievements and current mission and functions. It provides a summary of each department's current research program and lists present and former military and civilian staff members, and student assistants. Also, the personal observation and recollections of three distinguished colleages associated with the founding and growth of the laboratory are included. The NHRC Report for 1979 also provides indepth information on the Vicennial activities held on 1 Oct 1979.

The mission of the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) is as assigned by the Secretary of the Navy, and the functions to be performed to accomplish the mission, as assigned by the Commander, Naval Medical Command, are as follows: to support fleet operational readiness through research, development, test and evaluation on the biomedical and psychological aspects of Navy and Marine Corps personnel health and performance, and to perform such other functions or tasks as may be directed by higher authority.

It is imperative that medical treatment information be gathered quickly and accurately to ensure continuity of care at far-forward echelons. Each echelon employs a manual method of recording the medical information required for that particular level of care. The methods in use prior to and during the Vietnam War revealed the need for considerable improvements in medical information documentation, patient registration, patient tracking, facility status reporting, and effective transference of data throughout each of the first three echelons of care. The US military targeted these inadequacies for development; automation was determined as the direction in which documentation techniques could most significantly be enhanced. The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) has been an integral part of the development of automation for the far-forward echelons of care. The prototypes designed by NHRC for Echelons I and II can successfully raise the standard of treatment while simultaneously reducing the number of individuals needed for administrative duties, and increasing the number of medical staff available for patient care. An overview of NHRC's work in automation from 1983 to 1997 is presented.

Perspectives on the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System: A Program Review describes the capacity, quality, and effectiveness of the international and domestic facilities and programs that are a part of a DoD system to monitor and address emerging infectious diseases globally. The committee concludes that the goals of the system are in U.S. military, U.S. civilian, and global public health interests and that substantial progress has been made toward achieving system goals.