Mission

The Veteran & Active Duty Longitudinal Outcomes Research (VALOR) Program conducts multidisciplinary research on physical and psychological outcomes of warfighters throughout their lifetime. Through our research, and the contributions of our participants, we aim to share findings that influence health policies on screening, prevention, and intervention practices. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to improved quality of life, wellness, readiness, and performance of active-duty service members and veterans.

About the VALOR Program

The VALOR Program is a research division in the Operational Readiness Directorate at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, CA. The VALOR team consists of psychologists, epidemiologists, and research administrators (see Our Team for more information) who contribute to multiple research projects focused on active-duty and veteran service members.

Our Research

The research goals of the VALOR Program are to address knowledge gaps in health-related outcomes among active-duty service members and veterans to help healthcare providers and researchers improve overall care. The VALOR Program has contributed to research related to deployment-related injury, including extremity injuries and traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health concerns, pain, and other physical health outcomes.

The VALOR Program’s largest project to date is the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project (WWRP), the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) under the Wounded, Ill, and Injured (WII) program. The goal of the WWRP is to learn about the long-term outcomes of U.S. military personnel injured on deployment. Little is known about how different injuries affect the overall quality of life of injured military personnel, especially in the long term.