About

Founded in May 1991 as the Missouri Foundation for Medical Research by administrators from the Harry S Truman Memorial VA Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, the foundation provided Truman VA health research scientists with local support for administrative and management challenges in working with external funding, public donations and fundraising while managing and keeping up with VA processes.  In March 2015 the Foundation added “Veterans” to the Foundation name so it was renamed Missouri Foundation for Veterans’ Medical Research.  Then in March 2018 the name changed again to better reflect its tie in with Harry S Truman Memorial VA Hospital – Truman VA Medical Research Foundation (TVAMRF).

The Foundation operates with an Executive Director acting under a Board of Directors per its mandate in VHA Handbook 1200.17.

A Brief History

From the National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundation (NAVREF): 

“In 1984 Richard Levine, MD, associate chief of Staff for Research and Development (R&D) at the Washington, DC, VA medical center (VAMC), founded the Institute for Clinical Research (ICR).  His objective was to provide investigators at the Washington, DC, VAMC with a local entity – dedicated to their needs and familiar with VA requirements and processes – to administer research projects performed at the VAMC under funding provided by non-VA federal and private sector organizations.”

Dr. Levine approached Sonny Montgomery (D-MS), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (HVAC), and Mack Fleming, the HVAC staff director to create legisltation so that all VA medical centers could take advantage of such an entity.  Dr. Levine became the indefatigable driver for enactment of Public Law 100-322, title II, section 204(a).

This statute, later codified at 38 USC § 7361 et seq., allowed the VA secretary to authorize the establishment of nonprofit institutions to serve as a “flexible funding mechanism” [38 U.S.C. 7362(a)] for the conduct of VA research at each medical center.  While the enabling legislation was working its way through the various stages of legislative deliberation, Dr. Levine collaborated with Audley Hendricks, assistant general counsel for Professional Group III in the VA Office of General Counsel, to begin developing VA guidance on how to operationalize the anticipated new authority at the local level.”