Naval Medical Research Unit Two
| Naval Medical Research Unit Two | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Active | 1944–present |
| Country |
 United States of America
|
| Branch |  United States Navy |
| Role | NAMRU-2 is the primary source of infectious diseases research in the Asia/Pacific region for the US Navy. |
| Part of | Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) |
| Garrison/HQ | Phnom Phen, Cambodia |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Captain Marshell R. Monteville |
Naval Medical Research Unit Two (NAMRU-2) is a biomedical research laboratory of the US Navy established with the purpose to study infectious diseases of potential military significance in Asia. NAMRU-2 is officially registered as a subordinate command of Naval Medical Research Center located on Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. and considered as the center network of laboratories around the world.
NAMRU-2 operates in several countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, NAMRU-2 opened, outfitted, and staffed a satellite laboratory to conduct regional infectious disease outbreak research, and diagnostic laboratory support within the Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy Singapore.
NAMRU-2 was founded as Naval Medical Research Unit 2, at Rockefeller University in New York City in 1944 with Captain Thomas Rivers as commanding officer. It moved to Guam in 1945 to study medical problems of the Navy and Marine Corps during World War II pacific operations. In 1955 Commander Robert Allan Phillips convinced US naval leadership that a research presence was needed in the pacific region. NAMRU-2 was reestablished in Taipei, Taiwan in 1955 with now Captain Phillips as its commanding officer. Phillips would remain as commander for the next 10 years. In 1966, NAMRU-2 opened a detachment at the Naval Support Activity Hospital in Da Nang, South Vietnam. It was here that Lieutenant Myron Tong performed some of his seminal research into pathogens infecting combat wounds resulting in the first descriptions of acinetobacter baumannii infection in combat casualties. The research detachment would remain until 1970 when it was disestablished.
In 1970, NAMRU-2 would establish a detachment in Jakarta, Indonesia upon the invitation of Indonesian Ministry of Health officials. In 1979, U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Peoples Republic of China resulted in the relocation of the NAMRU-2 Command from Taipei to Manila, Philippines and in 1990 due to political upheaval and possible threats to US personnel it was again relocated to Jakarta, Indonesia. The facility in Jakarta is located in 62,000 square feet of laboratory, office and storage spaces in three buildings within the Indonesian Ministry of Health, National Institutes of Health (Badan LITBANGKES) compound. In the 1990s NAMRU-2 performed cutting edge research on the use of primaquine as primary prophylaxis for plasmodium falciparum malaria in Javanese men living in Irian Jaya.
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