The Millennium Cohort Study is a DoD research project that was created in 2001 in response to growing public concern about the potential health effects of deployments following the Vietnam and Gulf War conflicts. Although the original designers of the Millennium Cohort Study could not foresee the post-2001 military conflicts, the project is perfectly positioned to address health outcomes related to these operations.
The overarching goal of the Millennium Cohort Study is to determine how military related experiences affect the long-term health of service members. We hope the findings of our study will help define healthcare policy for future generations of military personnel and guide prevention and treatment programs. With over a quarter of a million service members enrolled since 2001, the Millennium Cohort Study is the largest and longest-running health study in military history and spans multiple generations of warfighters.
Millennium Cohort Study participants are diverse in terms of demographic characteristics and military and deployment experience.
- Most participants are men (69%) with 31% women.
- Participants predominantly served in the Army (43%), followed by the Air Force (31%), Navy (15%), Marine Corps (9%), and Coast Guard (2%).
- Over half (60%) have deployed at least once during their military service.
- More than half of participants at the time of enrollment were junior enlisted (58%), followed by 26% senior enlisted, and 17% officers.
Principal Investigator
Rudy Rull, PhD, MPH is the Principal Investigator of the Millennium Cohort Study at the Naval Health Research Center. Dr. Rull received his PhD and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles and BA in Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to military health, his research has focused on the assessment of environmental exposures to metals, pesticides, and other pollutants using biological markers, environmental databases, geographic information systems and mapping technologies, and the effects of these exposures on cancer, respiratory health, and birth defects.
Past Principal Investigators
| Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, Captain, USN, Retired | 1999 - 2001 |
| Margret A. K. Ryan, MD, MPH, Captain, USN, Retired | 2001 - 2008 |
| Tyler C. Smith, PhD, MS | 2008 - 2011 |
| Nancy F. Crum, MD, MPH | 2011 - 2013 |
| Martin R. White, MPH | 2013 - 2014 |
| David D. Luxton, PhD | 2014 - 2015 |
| CAPT Dennis Faix, MD, MPH, MC, USN | 2015 - 2017 |
The Study Staff
Our study staff of epidemiologists, biostatisticians, research psychologists, analysts, programmers and research coordinators are comprised of both military and civilian professionals. The staff is located at the Deployment Health Research Department, Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California.
The Strategic Board
The Millennium Cohort Team wishes to acknowledge the contributions of the Strategic Board members to the Millennium Cohort Study:
Current Members
George Anderson, MD, MPH
Major General, USAF, MC Ret.
Kelley Brix, MD, MPH
Research and Engineering Directorate
Defense Health Agency
Towanda Street, PhD, MA
Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Military Community and Family Policy
Sally Haskell, MD, MS
Women’s Health Services, Veterans Health Administration
Department of Veterans Affairs
Gregory Leskin, PhD
Military and Veteran Families Program
UCLA National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
Joyce Raezer, MA
National Military Family Association (retired)
Joseph Sharpe, Jr., MA
Director of the National Employment and Education Division,
The American Legion
Donald Shell, MD, MA
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs,
Health Services Policy and Oversight
Past Members
| Lisa Spahr | Member 2000 - 2001 |
| Dr. Noel Weiss | Member 2000 - 2001 |
| John D. Potter, MD, PhD | Member 2000 - 2002 |
| Bradley N. Doebbeling, MD, MSc | Member 2000 - 2005 |
| CDR Al Pavich, USN, Retired | Member 2000 - 2007 |
| Michael J. O’Rourke | Member 2000 - 2010 |
| G. Marie Swanson, PhD, MPH | Member 2000 - 2015 |
| Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, DCMT | Member 2000 - 2015 |
| Dan G. Blazer, II, MD, PhD, MPH | Member 2000 - 2013 |
| Lawrence A. Palinkas, PhD | Member 2000 - 2013 |
| K. Michael Peddecord, DrPH | Member 2000 - 2015 |
| Harold M. Koenig, MD, Vice Admiral, USN, Retired | Member 2000 - 2015 |
| Shannon Middleton, MPH | Member 2002 - 2005 |
| Laurence G. Branch, PhD | Member 2002 - 2004 |
| Marc Weisskopf, PhD, ScD | Member 2011 - 2015 |
| Rhonda Cornum, MD, Brigadier General, USA, Retired | Member 2011 - 2015 |
| Michael E. Kilpatrick, MD | Member 2011 - 2015 |
| Judith Dekle, MSW, LCSW | Member 2015 - 2016 |
| Robert Bossarte, PhD | Member 2015 - 2017 |
| Yuko Whitestone, PhD | Member 2017 - 2018 |
| Amy Justice, MD, PhD | Member 2018 - 2019 |
| Ralph Loren Erickson, MD, DrPH | Member 2018 - 2021 |
| Colin Chinn MD, MHS | Member 2019 - 2019 |
| Cathy Flynn, PhD | Member 2019 - 2019 |
| Benjamin Karney, PhD | Member 2019 - 2022 |