Airborne Hazards in the Deployment Environment: Implications for US Military Veterans

Particulate air pollution from both natural and anthropogenic sources are ubiquitous in military deployment environments of Iraq and Afghanistan at levels that far exceed environmental guidelines. Following deployment, many veterans endorse respiratory symptoms and dyspnea yet traditional lung function screening tests are within normal limits. These topics and novel assessment strategies for the small airways will be covered during this upcoming seminar.

Michael J. Falvo, PhD, is the Scientific Director of the VA Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence (AHBPCE) at the New Jersey War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (NJ WRIISC) and Associate Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. His program of research investigates mechanisms of dyspnea and exercise intolerance in the context of environmental and occupational exposures, and this work is currently supported by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense. Through the AHBPCE, Dr. Falvo's laboratory also provides advanced clinical cardiopulmonary services to Veterans through our national outpatient referral program.

Dr. Falvo is a registered clinical exercise physiologist and has completed his degrees in exercise science and kinesiology from The College of New Jersey (BS, 2004), University of Memphis (MS, 2006), and Washington University in Saint Louis (PhD, 2010). He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the WRIISC (2010 - 2012) and joined the WRIISC faculty in 2012.