Ribbon Cutting: Cartilage Regeneration Using Advanced Technologies to Enable (CReATE) Motion Center

Karen [Flaherty-Oxler, Dir., Crescenz VAMC], thanks for that kind introduction.

Let me begin by welcoming our Veterans Service Organizations and all the Vets here this morning. Could I ask our Vets to stand, if you’re able, and be recognized?

Welcome to all our partners from the University of Pennsylvania and Emory University, as well as the entire CReATE Motion Center Team—congratulations on this big step forward for Vets.

And so many other distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen—good morning, everyone.

It’s always good to be in the City of Brotherly Love, and it’s all the better for such an important occasion for Veterans, and all Americans. I know we’re all looking forward to cutting the ribbon, so I’ll be brief. I just want to say a few words about why we’re here. One reason. The only reason. Veterans … the Veterans we’re honored and privileged to serve. You see, President Biden often says that it’s our nation’s most sacred obligation to prepare and equip the troops we send into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home.

The second part of that sacred obligation, it’s ours to fulfill here at VA. Now, we can never do all that we should without a lot of help from Congress, Veterans Service Organizations, partners in academia, our VA employees doing so much of the heavy lifting. And our shared commitment is to stop at nothing when it comes to serving Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors, to serving them every bit as well as they have served all of us.

Because, when someone signs up to serve our country in the military, we make them a promise. If you fight for us, we will fight for you. If you serve us, we will serve you. If you take care of us, we will take care of you when you come home. The thing is, our country as a whole makes that promise. But it’s our job, VA’s job, to keep that promise. And we’re fighting like hell to do just that.

Over 3,700 VA researchers nationwide are on the very front lines of that fight, helping provide more health care to more Veterans than ever. They’re serving over 9 million Vets enrolled in VA health care, more than 170,000 who enrolled this fiscal year, so far. Let me add—since we’ve expanded access to VA health care for millions more Vets exposed to toxins and other hazards, we’re seeing, on average, 1500 new Vets enroll every day. And think about this. Statistics show that about 20% of non-Veterans have arthritis, or will have arthritis some time in their lives. For America’s Veterans, that number spikes to over 35%. Let me explain why, by telling you about just one of those Veterans—Master Sergeant David Gillespie, David, a Vet born not far from here in southwest Philly.

David comes from a tradition of service. His dad fought in the Battle of the Bulge with the First Infantry Division. His uncle was a nose-gunner in a bomber during World War II. Growing up, David heard their stories of service. And when it was his turn, he followed in dad’s footsteps, enlisting in the Army in 1976, Infantry, headed to Airborne School and, then, to the 82nd Airborne Division down in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Now, there are four things 82nd Airborne paratroopers do more than anything else. One—jump out of airplanes. Two—road march. Three—jump some more. And, four—more road marches. It’s a grueling job. Those marches are long miles—often at a slow run called the Airborne Shuffle, in combat boots, with a heavy ruck, starting early on hot, dark mornings, and ending in the blazing sun. And those jumps—paratroopers are loaded down with gear. They slam into the ground feet, knees, head. And as David will tell you, “Everything hurts after you jump, after you hit … like a ton of bricks.”

Then what do those troopers do? Well, they’re soldiers. The best in the world. They “shake it off,” David says, “and continue to march.” Continue to march, to jump. For David, ploughing in the ground nearly 180 times. And they might not know it then—they’re young, and tough—but that takes a toll. A few years down the road, a few decades, things can start breaking down.

For David, that meant the excruciating pain of osteoarthritis in his knees. In 2021, it meant a knee replacement. Eighteen months later, it meant another knee replacement. And listen, as good as they might be, knee replacements aren’t any sort of easy answer. There can be post-op complications, like infections, ongoing pain and stiffness, instability when standing up and walking.

Here’s the thing. We can do better for our Veterans. David—where are you? We are going to do better … for your brothers- and sisters-in-arms. As I said at the outset, that’s why we’re here.

Osteoarthritis. Right now, there is no cure. Not yet. We aim to change that. With the CReATE Motion Research Center, we aim to develop new therapies to treat osteoarthritis, to prevent the cartilage deterioration that leads to osteoarthritis, And—as with all our VA research—that’s for Vets, and for all Americans.

Our top researchers here in Philadelphia and Atlanta are conducting groundbreaking work that can help Veterans stay mobile while addressing this disease. They’re already conducting research to develop cell therapies, new ways to grow cartilage, and other state-of-the-art techniques to repair existing cartilage. It can mean better mobility and more flexibility that’s lost to osteoarthritis. It can mean fewer knee replacements and other surgeries like MSG Gillespie endured.

And that—that work, that research, those discoveries—that’s what fighting like hell for our Veterans looks like. And it’s the only reason we’re here.

With that, let me turn it over to Dr. Carolyn Clancy to tell you more. Dr. Clancy [VA Asst. Under Secretary for Health].