The Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine is dedicated to serving wounded service members involved in military activity at home or abroad.  Our patients are recovering from wounds to their limbs, head and face, large-area burns and compartment syndrome.  Many of these patients cannot be treated with conventional treatments, or want to regain better function than these treatments offer. 

Some of our patient profiles below represent the inspiration for why the US Armed Forces supports the AFIRM and for why AFIRM researchers do what they do.  The AFIRM is working to develop improved treatments that can result in better outcomes for these wounded soldiers and others like them.

Army SFC Jeffrey Mittman

Army SFC Jeffrey Mittman was deployed in Iraq in July 2005, when an IED projectile came through the window of his Humvee and ejected him from the vehicle. SFC Mittman sustained massive tissue injuries to his face and right arm. Among these was the loss of his nose, upper lip and hard palate, and his upper teeth, making eating and breathing unassisted a difficulty. The blast also left him without his sight.

 

SFC Mittman has been treated by the finest plastic surgeons in the nation, undergoing more than two dozen surgeries over the last four years, including bone grafts to re-build his palate and support a prosthetic nose.   Much of his face has been reconstructed well enough to allow him to function in his daily living tasks, but he still struggles with movement of his face. Our hope is to use regenerative medicine to build more natural facial structures and to help patients like SFC Mittman have better control over their facial muscles so they can better integrate back into daily life in society.

 
Master Sergeant Richard Robinson

MSG Richard Robertson has served in the US Army since 1986, on assignments ranging from Northern Germany to US Army Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).  In August 2005 MSG Robertson was wounded in Al Anbar province near Al Qaim .  While conducting combat operations, his vehicle triggered an IED, resulting in the deaths of four team members and wounding MSG Robertson in his thoracic spinal cord, leaving him a paraplegic.  MSG Robertson returned to active duty through the COAD (Continuation on Active Duty) program and lives in Ft. Bragg NC with his wife Sarah and daughter Ashleigh.  He is with USSOCOM as a peer mentor to seriously injured Special Operations soldiers. 

Staff Sergeant Randy Nantz

SSG Nantz joined the Army after 9/11 and was assigned to the 3^rd Infantry Division deployed to in 2003.  After a tour in and selection to the Special Forces Assignment and training, he re-deployed to with Special Forces in August 2006. 

In December 2006, SSG Nantz was injured in an EFP blast and sustained 3^rd degree burns to 23% of his body.  Despite excellent care, SSG Nantz sustained complications in the healing of his burns that resulted in an amputation below the knee and being fitted with a prosthesis.