Major funding for orthopaedic trauma research comes through Department of Defense.

On September 30, 2008 President Bush signed the "Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act" (H.R. 2638). The measure includes the FY 2009 appropriations bills for Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction-Veterans' Administration and funds most of the remaining federal programs at FY 2008 levels through March 6, 2009. The bill includes $66 million for peer reviewed orthopaedic trauma research. The funding is a major success for orthopaedic trauma research and a direct result of the AAOS vision and lobbying efforts, according to Andrew Pollak, MD, chair of the extremity war injuries and disaster preparedness project team. During the past 2 years, $101 million in additional funding has been earmarked for orthopaedic trauma research. "Over the next few months we will continue to work with the Army to make sure these funds are used to stimulate the best possible research and to foster an environment that both improves clinical care for our injured warriors while supporting and stimulating the careers of orthopaedic clinician-scientists," said Dr. Pollak. "Our next steps will be to grow this program further to match levels of funding in the Department of Defense currently enjoyed by breast and prostate cancer research and to ensure that these programs are funded at appropriate levels in perpetuity."
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