Professor Participates in Panel Discussion with First Lady Laura Bush

Newswise — Stephen Cozza, M.D., professor in the department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), participated in a recent roundtable discussion led by First Lady Laura Bush about "Helping America's Youth" and focusing on the special needs of military children. The roundtable was held at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at the youth center.

Dr. Cozza was asked to speak to the panel about the impact of deployment experiences on military children and families by Barbara Thompson, director of the Office of Military Community and Family Policy, because of the extensive work he's done with families and children of deployed members.

"We need to be thoughtful about identifying those things that can get in the way of children and families' healthy readjustment or receiving the support that they need," Dr. Cozza explained. "There are more resources available to military children and families now than ever before. Yet, part of the challenge for all who work hard to provide support to military families is getting those resources to those most in need."

Dr. Cozza is the associate director of USU's Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Child and Family Programs, and his work focuses on the impact of deployment, injury and death on the children and families of military service members. The Center conducts research and offers education, training, and consultation on preparing for and responding to the psychological effects and health consequences of traumatic events. Such events include natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods and tsunamis) and man-made disasters (e.g., motor vehicle and plane crashes, war, and terrorism). Their work spans studies of genetic vulnerability to stress, individual and community responses to terrorism, and policy recommendations to help the U.S. and its military and civilian populations. USU is located on the grounds of Bethesda's National Naval Medical Center and across from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The university is the nation's federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing. Students are active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service, who are being educated to deal with wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health emergencies. The university conducts sponsored research in the combined sciences, including military-relevant research in parasitology, infectious diseases, treatment of traumatic injury, and other issues related to health, war, and national disaster.