The Environmental Epidemiology Service (EES) is a research division of the Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Findings from EES research studies help health professionals and policymakers, including VA and Congress, improve health care practices and policies for veterans.

Our activities include:

• Conducting epidemiologic research and health surveillance addressing veterans, primarily those who have served in combat deployments or who use VA medical facilities.
• Creating and maintaining unique databases to support research on veterans’ health issues and promoting their use in collaboration with other interested researchers.

New Initiatives on Traumatic Brain Injuries

EES has two new initiatives to help improve diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries in our nation's veterans:

• Traumatic Brain Injury Veterans Health Registry
  Researchers plan to collect data on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans that will allow for comparisons of screening, diagnostic methods, and treatment options, with the goal of improving outcomes for veterans who have experienced this injury. Researchers began developing this data resource in fall 2009.
• The MIND Study (Markers for the Identification, Norming, and Differentiation of TBI and PTSD)
  The MIND Study will be an in-depth follow-up of a sample of participants from the National Health Study for a New Generation of U.S. Veterans who have experienced a TBI, symptoms of TBI, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).