JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON – (June 5, 2025) – Tarea Burton, of Lexington, Ky., a research scientist assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) San Antonio’s Combat Casualty Care and Operational Medicine directorate, utilizes the third generation of the Rugged Ozone Sterilization System Model M1 (ROSS M1) to sterilize medical instruments at the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute. The ROSS M1) is a portable unit that generates ozone and vaporized hydrogen peroxide for the on-demand sterilization of a variety of medical instruments. Partnering with SteriO3 since 2021, the ROSS M1 will enable combat medics, corpsmen, dentists and surgical personnel to sterilize instruments needed for dentistry and surgery, utilizing a process that would sanitize the medical instruments within an hour. Burton, who earned her Master of Science in Biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2019, has been supporting NAMRU San Antonio for 11 years. Navy Medicine Research & Development (NMR&D) employs highly qualified medical researchers and works alongside a wide range of research and development partners to keep abreast of best practices and advances in medical knowledge on behalf of Navy Medicine to increase warfighter lethality. NAMRU San Antonio, part of NMR&D, conducts gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research in support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health readiness and lethality while engaged in routine and expeditionary operations. (U.S. Navy Photo by Burrell Parmer, NAMRU San Antonio Public Affairs/Released)