| VA SHUTTERS
WHISTLEBLOWER'S BRAIN LAB
Dr. Robert van Boven responds to
the VA's preposterous press release.
NOTE from Larry Scott, VA
Watchdog dot Org ... Most readers of this site know the tale
of
Dr. Robert van Boven, VA whistleblower. The VA eats its
best and spits them out! This really could be made into a
movie ... but, no one would believe it. Please click the
above link for full details on how the VA shut down a needed brain
imaging research lab for no other reason, from my perspective,
than to punish van Boven. We have two pieces of information
... first is a VA press release ... second is an email copy of a
letter that I received from Dr. van Boven that points out the
errors in this preposterous attempt at spin. Dr. van Boven,
thank you for your service to veterans.
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VA Enhancing Brain Injury and
Recovery Lab for Veterans Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries
June 4, 2009
WACO,
Texas – To improve the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA)’s capabilities to conduct research that will benefit
America’s Veterans and
their families, VA will combine its Brain Injury and Recovery Laboratory
in
Austin,
Texas, with the VA’s
Center of
Excellence for Research on
Returning War Veterans in
Waco,
Texas.
“This move will place our laboratory in an ideal
location that will allow us to better server our nation’s military
families and Veterans,” Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Acting Under Secretary for
Health, said. “This program consolidation will enable VA to meet its
mission of better understanding brain injuries and to help Veterans
recover from such injuries.”
 Moving the laboratory will allow Veterans easier
access to VA hospitals in
Waco and in
Temple,
Texas, and will also enable them to work
with servicemembers stationed at
Ft. Hood,
Texas —the largest U.S. Army
installation in the world. Researchers will also have access to the
world’s most powerful research magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine,
which is located in
Waco at the
Center of
Excellence. All
researchers currently working in
Austin have started research either at the
Center of
Excellence for Research on
Returning War Veterans or at other research facilities at the Central
Texas Veterans Health Care System in
Temple.
The Waco VA Medical Center has several
construction projects scheduled in the future, which will further enhance
the capabilities of the
Center of
Excellence. "This
groundbreaking research project is an important part of realizing our goal
of making the Waco VA a world-class PTSD and mental health care research
center,” Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Waco) said in a January 2008
Research and Development Article. “It is one of the few programs in
the country focused on the links between genes and brain anatomy in the
development of PTSD and mental illness in our combat soldiers.”
VA looks forward to fulfilling this commitment to
our Veterans with this new program enhancement. For more information
please go to
www.heartoftexas.va.gov or contact Diana Struski at 817-739-3989.
-------------------------
June 4, 2009
Gerald Cross
Acting Under Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
Dear Acting Under Secretary Cross,
I write to inform you of misinformation released by the
DVA to the media that warrants attention and accountability on
behalf of the Public and Veterans that your organization serves.
The DVA gave a misleading and inaccurate news release on June 4,
2009, entitled "VA enhancing Brain Injury and Recovery Lab for
veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries [TBI]."
First, the DVA has repeatedly and erroneously referred to
the Laboratory program for TBI which I launched and named "The
Brain Imaging and Recovery Laboratory [BIRL]." This
failure is thematic with the badly informed and careless
mismanagement that has led to more than $2.5 million in
expenditures in over 2 1/2 years at the BIRL without a single
veteran being studied or helped at the program. The DVA's VISN 17
Director has also admitted under oath in May 2008 that he did not
even know the BIRL existed before my disclosures of waste,
fraud, plagiarism, and cronyism were filed with the US Office of
Special Counsel (OSC) and VA's Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Second, the "enhancement" needed at the BIRL is not moving
the remaining $3.5 million, but rather holding DVA managers
accountable for suppression, inaction, perjury, and retaliation
related to the above cited transgressions. The press needs to be
alerted that there are two ongoing investigations into misconduct
by the same managers who will otherwise oversee the shunting of
remaining funds from the BIRL to Waco. The BIRL should not be
allowed to be shut down until the investigations by the House
Committee on Veterans Affairs Sub Committee on Oversight and
Investigation and the OSC are completed.
Third, it is false, if not preposterous, to assert that the
DVA has the "world's most powerful research magnetic imaging (MRI)
machine...in Waco."
Fourth, it is misleading to omit that Waco does not have
full-time MRI physicist to maintain the scanner, a full-time brain
imaging research expert, a TBI research expert, or a
neurologist/neurosurgeon. Having an airplane without an expert
pilot and expert mechanic is dangerous. Moreover, the critical
mass and proximity of intellectual resources at the University of
Texas at Austin Neuroscience Institute is abundantly rich and will
be wasted with shutting down the BIRL.
Fifth, veterans with chronic TBI do not require "easier
access" to a VA hospital. Veterans should have easy access
from their homes to 1) TBI experts, and 2) outpatient
care. According, the brain imaging treatment research facility
should be closer to where veterans live, not where a
hospital is located. More veterans live in the greater
metropolitan Austin area versus Waco.
Under the leadership of the new administration committed to
reform, transparency, and accountability, I ask that you review
these matters accordingly. Specifically, any proposed closure of
the BIRL should be held in abeyance of the current Congressional
and Special Counsel investigations into wrongdoing by DVA
officials.
R.W. Van Boven, M.D., D.D.S.
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TOPICS:
veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs,
BIRL, Dr. Robert van Boven, TBI, Waco, Austin |
