April 25, 2006
Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) Chairman Larry Craig announced today that the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs will hold a hearing this Thursday, April 27, on research being conducted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and vote on the reconfirmation of Admiral Daniel Cooper, Under Secretary for Benefits. That vote is expected to occur at the start of the hearing.

The hearing, titled, "VA Research: Investing Today to Guide Tomorrow's Treatment" will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building. It will be webcast live, and archived for viewing later, at http://veterans.senate.gov. The hearing may also be audiocast ? during the hearing only ? on C-SPAN's hearings website, located at http://www.capitolhearings.org.

The VA has a long history of medical breakthroughs which have benefitted society, including the invention of the implantable cardiac pacemaker, performing the first liver transplant, and developing systems that allow patients to move paralyzed limbs. At Thursday's hearing, researchers will demonstrate an artificial hand developed at the VA Prosthetics Research Laboratory in Chicago.

Thursday's hearing will highlight the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research program's history of accomplishment, the current challenges it is facing, and the outlook for research in the coming years. There will be a specific focus on assessing VA's research infrastructure and the constraints that a shortage of modernized research space can place on research activities, as well as on broader efforts to recruit physician-investigators to VA.

Panel I

? Dr. Jonathan Perlin, Undersecretary for Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

? Dr. Joel Kupersmith, Chief Research and Development Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

? Dr. Richard F. Weir, Research Scientist, VA Prosthetics Research Laboratory, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois

Panel II

? Dr. Dennis L. Stevens, Associate Chief of Staff, Research & Development, Boise, Idaho VA Medical Center

? Dr. John Feussner, Chair, Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina

? Dr. John I. Kennedy, Jr., Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine

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