New Navy Medicine Research Laboratory to Stand Up in Dayton

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The Naval Medical Research Unit (NMRU) Dayton, Ohio, activation ceremony will take place on board Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Oct. 6.

The command activation will officially mark the historic merger of two esteemed institutions, Navy Medicine's Environmental Health Effects Laboratory, currently operating in Dayton, and the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL), in Pensacola, Fla.

Capt. Keith Syring, Aerospace Physiology program manager and specialty leader, will be the first commanding officer of Navy medicine's newest military operational medicine research laboratory, and Cmdr. Rita Simmons, currently officer-in-charge, NAMRL, will be the executive officer.

Together, this leadership team will execute the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)-directed move of NAMRL and solidify the new command's scientific core capabilities.

NMRU Dayton, in conjunction with the Air Force's 711th Human Performance Wing, will form the BRAC-directed DoD Center of Excellence for Aerospace Medicine Research, Training and Education.

The activation ceremony will commence at 0900 and will be hosted by Capt. Richard L. Haberberger Jr., commanding officer, Naval Medical Research Center, with the key note address delivered by Rear Adm. Eleanor Valentin, commander, Navy Medicine Support Command.

The activation ceremony will also serve to formally announce NMRU Dayton's role as Navy medicine's global research leader in areas such as toxicology, acceleration effects, aviation medical standards, physiological and cognitive effects of altitude, aviation personnel selection testing, vision research and other key aviation-related areas.

For more news from Naval Medical Research Center, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmrc/.