Senior military leaders, medical school deans from across the country and other private health care sector experts gathered in Tacoma Monday and Tuesday to discuss finding more efficient and effective ways to care for wounded Servicemembers and their families.

The two-day meeting at Hotel Murano was hosted by the Defense Health Board, a federal advisory committee to the Department of Defense. The board hosts four meetings a year:  two in the Washington D.C. area and two at military installations around the country.

At the meetings, board members receive updated briefings about evaluations and studies in progress by one of the many subcommittees of the board. The board also votes on completed reports with their findings and recommendations; approved studies are then prepared for submission to the DoD.

"It's an opportunity to answer questions for the military, to point out observations that they may or may not have seen for themselves and to bring together extraordinary individuals to continue to contribute to the excellence of military health care even though they are not officially part of the military," said Dr. Nancy Dickey, president of the DHB.

Topics board members covered in Tacoma included briefings on tactical combat casualty care, psychotropic medication and complementary and alternative medicine use and the military's infectious diseases research program. The meeting also included a trip on Tuesday to visit the Madigan Healthcare System on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

"When we're talking about health care topics, now we have actual pictures of where these activities are occurring and some of the education and research that is occurring," said Dickey, who's also the president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs at the Texas A&M University System. "I think that's very helpful."

The trips to installations also provide a good way for board members to familiarize themselves with the people whose lives they are ultimately helping.

"It never hurts to get that injection of enthusiasm" that comes from visiting people and facilities, Dickey said.

Since the board is comprised of people from a wide variety of medical fields and backgrounds, it's able to offer the DoD a valuable perspective, Dickey said.

"Most of us benefit from having somebody that is not in that (military) infrastructure providing insights and advice," she said.

Some board members have served in the military, while others, such as Dickey, have a member of their family who is a veteran, which makes the connection even more close to the heart. The doctor's husband is a Vietnam Army veteran, and her son deployed to the Middle East three times during his Army career.

"For those of us who have family members (who have served) we know all too well about how important (the DHB) is," she said. "This is an unpaid service to our country. Part of the payment comes in saying there is tremendous value in what we do."