In honor of National VA Research Week, May 13-17, the Honorable Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is scheduled to host a live-streamed award presentation recognizing five exceptional investigators, May 13, from 1-2 p.m. EST.  This year’s theme is “Building Community Through Research,” as the VA celebrates researchers’ contributions to both the Veteran community and the Health Science community as a whole.  This year’s awardees are: Dr. Alvin Powers and Dr. Wes Ely, VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System in Nashville, TN; Dr. Sanjay Saint, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Ann Arbor, MI; Dr. Paula Bickford, James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, FL; and Dr. Matthew Rettig, VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care.

VA researchers make up innovative teams that have historically developed effective treatments for tuberculosis, invented the CAT scan and the pacemaker, and performed the first-ever liver transplant. More recently research investigators have been critical to supporting the PACT Act, Women's Health, Telehealth, suicide prevention, the President’s Cancer Moonshot, and much more.