Director, Surveillance Military Environmental Exposures
Department of Veterans Affairs
Dr. Dursa is the Director, Surveillance Military Environmental Exposures (SMEE) in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Outcomes Military Exposures (HOME). She previously served for thirteen as a senior epidemiologist in the HOME Epidemiology Program, where her research focused on the long-term health effects of deployment, specifically the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn Veterans. Prior to joining HOME, she was a biostatistician for the VA Office of Research and Development’s Cooperative Studies Program. She has published widely on post-deployment health issues including Gulf War illness/chronic multisymptom illness, respiratory health, post-traumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, and women’s health. Dr. Dursa is the PI of the Gulf War Era Cohort Study, the largest and longest-running longitudinal cohort study of Gulf War Veterans, which the VA has been following since 1995. She is leading the Department of Veterans Affairs’ effort to use machine learning to develop a data-driven case definition for Gulf War illness. Dr. Dursa received her MPH in epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Dursa is a proud Navy spouse, the former Ombudsman of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, and an advocate for women in science and leadership.
Monday, April 28, 2025
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM CT
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM CT
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose