About Naval Medical Research Center-Asia
The Naval Medical Research Center-Asia (NMRC-A) and U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit TWO, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (NAMRU2-PP) is one of eight laboratories subordinate to the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in Silver Spring, MD, USA, which in turn is under Navy Medicine West (NAVMED West) and the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). NMRC-Asia/NAMRU2-PP operates in the United States Pacific Command (PACOM) and is under the authority of the respective country entities under U.S. Embassies in Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand. NMRC-A is currently headquartered in Sembawang Terminal, Singapore, from where the leadership, administrative, logistic, and financial management teams operate. NMRC-A maintains liaison officers at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore and at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Bangkok, Thailand.
Background
NMRC-A is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) biomedical command that promotes U.S. diplomacy in Southeast Asia by conducting basic and applied research, disease surveillance, and outbreak response assistance for infectious diseases of public health importance to the DoD and our regional partners. NMRC-A is one of six biomedical research laboratories outside the continental United States. The NAMRU-2PP laboratory supports infectious disease research, public health surveillance, outbreak response, and clinical studies across Cambodia.
The United States Navy has conducted research on neglected tropical diseases in Asia since World War II when NAMRU-2 was first established in Guam under the Rockefeller Foundation. The command was first based in Taipei, Taiwan (1955), and then moved to Jakarta, Indonesia (1970), and then Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (2010). NMRC-A was re-established March 2013 in Singapore under a cooperative research initiative.
Mission of NMRC-A/NAMRU-2PP
To monitor and characterize emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases of military and public health importance and to develop mitigation strategies against these threats in partnership with
host nation, international, and U.S. agencies in Southeast Asia.
Research Collaborations
Throughout its history, NMRC-A has worked closely with researchers across the region on tropical disease research of mutual interest. Since 1998, the U.S. Navy has maintained an international partnership with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) where an office was established in 1998. In 2006, a state-of-the-art biomedical laboratory was renovated on the NIPH site. The command has collaborations and infectious disease projects with partners in Singapore, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Australia, and the United States.
Research Focus Areas
- Biosurveillance
- Pathogen characterization
- Host nation laboratory capacity
- Outbreak response
- Vector control
- Clinical trials
Highlighted Projects
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) collaboration, Malaysia Ministry of Health (MoH)
- Drug resistance/susceptibility profiles of malaria in Vietnam
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of vector control and abatement devices in Laos
- Surveillance and etiology of acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses in Cambodia
- Support of Global Health Security through microbiology laboratory upgrade with Cambodia Ministries of Health and National Defense
- Austere Environment Consortium for Enhanced Sepsis Outcomes (ACESO) in Cambodia
- SMS-based disease surveillance in Cambodian military
- Therapeutic efficacy studies for malaria infections
- Disease surveillance support, Operation Cobra Gold, Thailand