Gwen Graham: “throughout its history, the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, has made great strides in medical research. At a time…”

“throughout its history, the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, has made great strides in medical research. At a time when VA's medical and prosthetic research program is being starved of vital funding, as ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I would like to draw attention to a significant discovery the program recently has made. As highlighted in an April 22, 2003, article in The Washington Post, researchers at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center found that not only do seniors who get vaccinated against the flu gain protection from the disease, but they also reduce their risk of hospitalization from pneumonia, cardiac disease and stroke. The VA study, published in the April 3, 2003, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, also found that during a given flu season, vaccinated elderly patients were half as likely to die as their unvaccinated peers. Since its inception, the VA research program has made landmark contributions to the well-being of veterans and the Nation as a whole. Past VA research projects have resulted in the first successful kidney transplant performed in the U.S., as well as the development of the cardiac pacemaker, a vaccine for hepatitis, and the CAT and MRI scans. This new discovery is yet another example of the crucial research work done by the VA, and of why we must keep the research program sufficiently funded.”