It is a pleasure to welcome you to Washington, D.C., for the First Annual Meeting of the Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Service. We feel honored to have been given the opportunity to organize this inaugural meeting. We must say, however, that it has been quite a challenge to have had to plan this meeting, an inaugural meeting with no precedent in less than 12 months!

    We carefully chose the theme for this meeting, "Enabling Veterans: Meeting the Challenge of Rehabilitation in the Next Millennium." The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides unparalleled, high-quality rehabilitation health-care services to veterans. This distinction arises unequivocally in no small part because of the long-standing commitment the VA has made to support rehabilitation research and development. This investment in RR&D has led to unique methodologies of rehabilitation care and to innovative assistive devices to benefit veterans with disabilities and the VA clinicians who serve them. It is gratifying that these VA-supported state-of-the-art developments have also been adopted by the rehabilitation community at-large, impacting non-VA rehabilitation teams and non-veteran individuals with disabilities. The VA has clearly demonstrated, through its commitment to enabling veterans, that it is well-positioned to meet the challenge of the nation in providing high-quality rehabilitation care in the next millennium.

    Nonetheless, the challenge for us as individual investigators is to maximize productivity of the VA Rehabilitation R&D Service as a whole. We believe that information transfer among VA investigators will enhance the existing high productivity by VA investigators even further. The extensive network of VA facilities throughout the nation offers investigators unique opportunities for collaborative research, clinical trials, and technology transfer. In addition, the pioneering rehabilitation research and development conducted by the VA must be conveyed to veterans, the public, and their representatives. Why should they not be afforded the earliest opportunity to become excited over our new rehabilitation treatments and devices?

    The objectives of this first meeting of the VA Rehabilitation R&D Service were, therefore, to foster communication and collaborations among VA investigators and inform veterans and others of VA rehabilitation research and development achievements.

    The interest shown by our VA colleagues in this first meeting has been overwhelming. We feel quite fortunate that about 175 VA investigators are participating in this meeting presenting 128 poster displays, 23 demonstrations, and 6 VA Rehabilitation R&D Center of Excellence exhibits. In addition, we are fortunate to have keynote speakers from within and outside the VA to share with us their cogent views of the past, the current, and the future of rehabilitation research and care.

    We hope this first meeting will provide you with information and opportunities not easily attainable otherwise. Enjoy!