ASU Crosscutting Technologies to Enhance Military Medical Readiness and Resilience

Dr. Rachel Cassalia is Director of the Military and Veteran Resilience and Health Collaborative (MVRHC) at Arizona State University, where she leads crosscutting, data-driven research funded through the MTEC award Cross-cutting Prevention Through an Upstream Focus on Social Determinants of Health Within Military Settings (MTEC-21-05-CrossCutting), this work advances prevention-focused, human-centered systems designed to address risk before it degrades readiness. Her lab integrates behavioral health, human performance, prevention science, social determinants of health, and strength and conditioning to translate research into practical, scalable readiness solutions.

These efforts align with findings from her recent Military Medicine publication, which highlight the need for adaptive, preventive, and human-centered integrated systems that connect behavioral, physical, and environmental data to anticipate periods of heightened risk and enable earlier, more effective intervention under chronic operational stress.Service members routinely operate in demanding environments, under chronic sleep disruption, elevated heat exposure, repeated physical strain, and psychological demands that degrade performance, delay recovery, and increase long-term risk for injury and behavioral health challenges, including suicide.

Across diverse military branches and reserve components, Dr. Cassalia’s team moves beyond reactive models to develop and integrate prevention-focused systems that enable earlier risk identification, strengthen protective factors, and support data-informed decision making through real-time dashboards, resilience indexing, and advanced analytics. Multi-modal approaches addressing sleep, nutrition, musculoskeletal health, resource access, and care navigation strengthen both physical and mental readiness while addressing health disparities and other upstream stressors. In parallel, stigma-reduction strategies, organizational readiness planning, and rigorous evaluation frameworks modernize health promotion and prevention efforts across these diverse operational environments.

Collectively, this work establishes a foundation for predictive analytics, continuous monitoring, upstream prevention, and applied performance science, directly aligning with DoD priorities to maximize medical readiness and supported in part by the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC). Through innovative approaches based on collaboration and evidence-based programming, Dr. Cassalia’s team is building the next generation of readiness and resilience strategies for military populations that accelerate the translation of research into operational impact and scalable solutions. Further research will advance validation, predictive modeling, and deployment of tools and scalable interventions that strengthen the health, resilience, and recovery of those who serve.