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War Related Illness and Injury Study Center

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About Us

Who We Are

  • The War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) is a National VA Post-Deployment Health Resource established in 2001 in response to the needs of Veterans with war-related illness and post-deployment issues as mandated by Congress following Public Law 105-368, Section 103.
  • As an applied clinical translational center under the Office of Patient Care Services (PCS), the WRIISC focuses on the war-related health concerns of Veterans and their unique health care needs through clinical programs, education, and research. Our clinical services provide expertise in military environmental and occupational exposure assessments and comprehensive medical evaluations for combat Veterans who have chronic, medically unexplained symptoms and/or difficult to diagnose symptoms that are potentially related to their deployment.
  • Our clinical education resources offer direct post-deployment health education to Veterans, their families, loved ones, as well as health care providers. WRIISC ensures healthcare professionals have the knowledge and tools to provide the best clinical care to Veterans and delivers on the national military and environmental exposure education required by the PACT Act (PL 117-168).
  • Our Veteran health surveillance and research programs focus on the needs of deployed Veterans by engaging with stakeholders to ensure that our efforts stay aligned with what Veterans require in their care. We develop and implement innovative interventions designed to improve the health and well-being of all Veterans.

Each site provides tertiary clinical consultation services for their respective catchment areas. Specialization defines the WRIISC sites, each having a focused Center of Excellence (CoE), which align with the unique knowledge and subject matter expertise at each center. These specialties have enabled WRIISC to continue to serve as the VA's experts on post-deployment health and support mission critical efforts such as: studies of military environmental health (PL 115-929), Camp Lejeune clinical consultations, and oversight of the VA's largest environmental health registry, as required by legislation (PL 112-260).

Our History

Section 103 of Public Law 105-368 directed VA to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to develop a plan for establishing national centers for the study of war-related illnesses and post-deployment issues.
In 2001, after a competitive review process the first two WRIISC centers were established; one at the Washington, DC VA and the other at the East Orange Campus of the VA New Jersey Health Care System. Initially these centers were titled the CSWRI (Center for the Study of War-Related Illnesses). Later, they were renamed the War-Related Illness and Injury Center and abbreviated "WRIISC".
To provide wider coverage and easier access for Veterans, an additional WRIISC was authorized and became operational at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in Palo Alto, CA in February 2008.
Each WRIISC location established a Center of Excellence (CoE) that puts the Veteran at the center of clinical care and research:
The Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence (AHBPCE) was officially recognized by Congress in Public Law 115-929 as a VA Center of Excellence in May 2019. AHBPCE focuses on improving health outcomes for Veterans with airborne hazard exposures through specialized clinical evaluations, clinical and translational research, and education and dissemination of best practices.
The Women's Operational Military Exposure Network (WOMEN) was recognized by the Secretary of the VA as a Center of Excellence in 2024. WOMEN CoE provides care consultation and cutting-edge research for women Veterans exposed to military environmental exposures.
The Complex Exposure Threats Center of Excellence (CETCE) was recognized by the Secretary of the VA as a Center of Excellence in 2024. CETCE is the only center in VA taking a proactive approach to new and emerging exposure health threats (ex. new weapons technology), keeping VHA responsive to Veterans evolving health needs.

Our Collaborating Partners

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WRIISC works with a variety of VA, Department of Defense (DoD), and other federal agencies, academic institutions, and research foundations to improve the health of Veterans.
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The purpose of these partnerships is to strengthen our WRIISC programs and advance deployment health research.

Our Leadership

Photo of J. Wes Ashford, MD, PhD
J. Wes Ashford, MD, PhD
Director, CA

Dr. Ashford is the Director of the WRIISC at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, a Clinical Professor (affiliated) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, a Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford/VA Aging Clinical Research Center and Alzheimer's Center, and a staff psychiatrist at the VAPAHCS. Dr. Ashford is an authority on Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and experienced in the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of these and numerous other neuropsychiatric disorders. He has contributed major innovations to the fields of neuropsychological testing, brain imaging, and dementia treatment, with more than 160 scientific publications on Alzheimer's disease, MCI, genetic factors in Alzheimer's disease, and testing methodologies.

Dr. Ashford has worked in the VA for 35 years and run several programs, including a memory disorders out-patient clinic and substance-dependence in-patient unit. He has studied numerous clinical problems which afflict Veterans and published manuscripts on several of these, including PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and Gulf War Illness. He is the Chair of the Memory Screening Advisory Board for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. Dr. Ashford's training includes a BA from UC-Berkeley; an MD from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA, where he directed a geriatric psychiatry clinic 1980-1985 and set up the Alzheimer's PET Scan Study. He is a prolific scientific writer and speaker as well as a frequent presenter at international conferences.

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Photo of Matthew J. Reinhard, PsyD
Matthew J. Reinhard, PsyD
Director, DC

Dr. Reinhard is the Director of DC WRIISC and the Complex Exposure Threats Center of Excellence (CETCE). He has been with the WRIISC at the Washington DC VA Medical Center since 2008 as a clinical neuropsychologist. He obtained his BA from Long Island University, his MA and PsyD from Pepperdine University (APA), and interned at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center (APA). He completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Prior to joining WRIISC, Dr. Reinhard has also worked as a clinical psychologist in the PTSD treatment program at the Washington DC VAMC. He has unique expertise in the area of military, occupational, and environmental exposures and neuropsychological assessment, is a Principal Investigator on several studies and frequently publishes in peer reviewed literature. He holds an academic appointment at the Associate Professor rank from Georgetown University Medical School Department of Psychiatry.

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Photo of Helena Chandler, PhD
Helena Chandler, PhD
Director, NJ

Dr. Helena K. Chandler is the Director of NJ WRIISC. She is responsible for overseeing all Center operations and maintaining a high level of quality in clinical, research, and education activities at the NJ WRIISC.

Dr. Chandler joined the WRIISC in 2002 after completing her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at Virginia Tech. She received federal funding for her Postdoctoral Fellowship and gained specialized training in applications of Behavioral Medicine to Veterans with complex and medically unexplained symptoms. Dr. Chandler has collaborated with colleagues at the three WRIISC sites, in the Mental Health & Behavioral Science (MH&BS) division of the East Orange VAMC, and at the UMNDJ-New Jersey Medical School on nine additional federally-funded research projects. These include on multisite studies and clinical trials of new interventions for Veterans.

Dr. Chandler has a particular research interest in three interconnected areas of research: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS), and Healthcare Utilization. The NJ WRIISC continues to be a wonderful environment for Dr. Chandler to connect with Veterans who are both seeking help for themselves and interested in participating in research that will help others.

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