Caring for Veterans with Deployment-Related Stress Disorders: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond

Josef I. Ruzek, PhD, is the director of the Dissemination and Training Division of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He is coeditor of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies for Trauma, (2nd ed.; 2006), and a contributing author for the National Center for PTSD's Iraq War Clinician Guide.
 
Dr. Ruzek is cochair of the Early Intervention special interest group of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and was a member of the team that developed the joint Veterans Affairs–Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Traumatic Stress.
 
Paula P. Schnurr, PhD, has served as deputy executive director of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder since 1989. She is a research professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Traumatic Stress and the Clinician's Trauma Update–Online. She received her doctorate in experimental psychology at Dartmouth College in 1984 and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School.
 
Dr. Schnurr is past-president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and is a fellow of APA and of the Association for Psychological Science. Her research focuses on methodological and statistical issues as well as substantive topics, especially PTSD treatment and on risk and resilience factors associated with the long-term physical and mental health outcomes of traumatic exposure. Her current projects include a trial evaluating a PTSD decision aid and another trial evaluating integrated primary care treatment for PTSD.
 
Jennifer J. Vasterling, PhD, obtained her doctorate in psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1988, subsequently completing pre- and postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at the Boston Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. She currently serves as chief of psychology at VA Boston Healthcare System and as a clinical investigator in the Behavioral Science Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
 
Dr. Vasterling is a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Prior to her current positions, Dr. Vasterling served as the associate director for research for the VA South Central (VISN 16) Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center; as staff psychologist at the New Orleans VA Medical Center; and as a clinical professor of psychiatry and neurology at Tulane University School of Medicine.
 
Dr. Vasterling's research has centered on furthering the understanding of the neurocognitive and emotional changes that accompany war-zone deployment and posttraumatic stress responses. She is the lead editor of a book on the neuropsychological correlates of PTSD and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Her recent work includes a longitudinal study examining neuropsychological and emotional outcomes of military deployment to Iraq.
 
Matthew J. Friedman, MD, PhD, is executive director of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and professor of psychiatry and of pharmacology and toxicology at Dartmouth Medical School. He has worked with PTSD patients as a clinician and researcher for 35 years and has published extensively on stress and PTSD, biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology, and clinical outcome studies on depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and chemical dependency. He has more than 200 publications, including 19 books and monographs.
 
Listed in the "Best Doctors in America," he is a Distinguished Lifetime Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), past chair of the scientific advisory board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, a member of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-V Anxiety Disorders Work Group, and has served on many Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and National Institute of Mental Health research, education, and policy committees. He has received many honors, including the ISTSS Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and the ISTSS Public Advocacy Award in 2009.