The partnership between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which enters its seventh year in 2022, aims to transform veterans’ health and push the boundaries of computational science. Using the biggest biodatabase in the world, the program’s two projects focus on both clinical and operations research: studying cardiovascular disease, suicide prevention, and cancer as well as exploring ways to improve the process of VA healthcare, policies, and systems.
The hallmark of the partnership between DOE and the VA is data security. Until recently, research using sensitive health data could not make full use of high-performance computing capabilities, but innovations such as the CITADEL security framework, debuted in 2021, ensure the safety of veterans’ data and allow the VA to harness the power of supercomputing like never before.