Challenges in Military Nutrition Research with LTC (R) Steve DeLellis

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) DeLellis leads research focused on traumatic brain injury, including managing the longest continually running TBI surveillance project in the Special Operations community and co-authoring more than 30 articles on TBI in SOF. But in this episode we aren't here to discuss the research he's had success in, we're here to discuss the research he hasn't been able to get off the ground. On numerous occasions he has tried and failed to initiate research projects on nutrition for soldiers, and we brought him on to talk about why that might be.

LTC (R) Delellis had a truly incredible career in the Army, with combat service in essentially every conflict the United States has participated in in the last four decades. He was on the ground in Operation Just Cause (Panama,) Operation Gothic Serpent (Mogadishu, Somalia), Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Operation Deliberate Force (The Balkans), and eleven rotations in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

He entered active duty as a Private in 1983 and went on to serve as an Infantryman, Team Leader, Squad Leader, and Battalion Assistant Operations Sergeant for the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield. From 1988 to 1998 LTC DeLellis served as a Team Member and Team Leader in the Army’s Special Missions Unit at Fort Bragg, NC.

Upon graduating from Physician Assistant School, LTC DeLellis served as the Battalion PA for 3rd Battalion, 325th Infantry, 82nd Airborne division, and the Battalion PA for 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. From 2004 to 2014 he served as a Squadron PA, Family Medicine Clinic Supervisor, and Deputy Surgeon for the Army’s Special Missions Unit. LTC DeLellis served briefly as the Deputy Surgeon for the XVIII Airborne Corps before moving back to USASOC as the Chief of Medical Training and the Deputy Command Surgeon.

Today, DeLellis is the Executive Director of the Fort Bragg Research Institute, a program of The Geneva Foundation, where he continues his important work supporting the operational needs of the warfighter.

Learn more about the Fort Bragg Research Institute here

Learn more about the North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance (NC-COMP) here

We discussed some DoD obesity data which can be found here

We also discussed comparisons in obesity rates between branches which can be found here