Two volunteer advisory groups will help the Network keep its education accurate, its services useful, and its decisions accountable to the people it serves.
Clinical knowledge and lived experience have different jobs.
Neither group replaces the other. Their recommendations will be documented, considered together, and kept separate from individual medical care.
01 / MEDICAL
Medical Advisory Group
Reviews the accuracy, balance, scope, and currency of higher-risk health education.
Experience sought
Neurotology or otology
Neurosurgery
Radiation oncology or radiosurgery
Audiology and hearing rehabilitation
Vestibular rehabilitation
Behavioral health, rehabilitation, or survivorship care
What the group may do
Review medical summaries, event topics, and resource standards.
Flag outdated, incomplete, or misleading claims.
Recommend clearer explanations of uncertainty and treatment tradeoffs.
Advise when specialist or urgent-care language is needed.
02 / COMMUNITY
Community Advisory Group
Brings veteran, active-duty, family, caregiver, and patient experience into priorities and service design.
Experience sought
Veterans and active-duty service members
Spouses, family members, and caregivers
Observation, radiation, surgery, and rehabilitation experiences
Different service branches and career stages
Rural, overseas, and complex-care navigation
Hearing, balance, communication, and other access needs
What the group may do
Identify unmet needs and practical barriers.
Test whether language, tools, and events are clear and useful.
Advise on peer-support safety, accessibility, and community standards.
Help set priorities without claiming to speak for every member.
Public charter · Draft for initial appointments
How the groups will operate
This charter takes effect when the first advisers accept appointment. Material changes will be dated on this page.
01
Purpose
Improve the Network’s educational accuracy, military relevance, accessibility, and community safety through independent recommendations.
02
Selection
The owner will assess experience, perspective, availability, conflicts, and the balance of each group. Self-nominations and referrals are welcome; appointment is not guaranteed.
03
Terms and meetings
Initial appointments will be one year and may be renewed. Groups are expected to meet at least quarterly, with focused reviews between meetings when needed.
04
Recommendations
Advisers recommend; the owner decides and remains accountable. Safety concerns receive prompt review. Significant accepted changes and unresolved material disagreements may be summarized publicly.
05
Independence
No sponsor, employer, agency, healthcare system, or product company controls appointments or conclusions. Participation does not imply endorsement by an adviser’s employer or affiliation.
06
Volunteer service
These roles are currently volunteer positions. If payment, travel support, or reimbursement becomes available, the arrangement will be disclosed before it is accepted.
Conflicts and conduct
Disclose, recuse, and protect trust.
Advisers will disclose relevant employment, ownership, consulting, speaking, research funding, expert-witness work, advocacy leadership, and other relationships when joining and when a topic creates a new potential conflict.
A public summary will identify relevant affiliations and conflicts without publishing private financial details.
An adviser with a direct conflict will not lead or vote on that review; the recusal will be recorded.
Event speakers and content contributors will disclose relevant financial or organizational relationships.
Advisers may not use the Network’s name to solicit patients, sell services, or imply endorsement.
The owner may end an appointment for undisclosed conflicts, misuse of information, unsafe conduct, persistent nonparticipation, or violation of community boundaries.
Privacy
Share themes, not member identities.
Advisory work will use public material, de-identified themes, and aggregated feedback whenever possible.
No adviser receives the member list, private email addresses, medical records, military identifiers, or private discussion content by default.
Identifiable stories or participation require separate, specific consent.
Public meeting summaries will omit personal details and confidential deliberations.
Advisers must protect nonpublic drafts and report any accidental disclosure promptly.
Serving as an adviser does not provide access to member administration or moderation systems.
Review workflow
A label will mean a completed review.
No page will be described as medically or community reviewed until the relevant group has actually completed and documented that review.
1
Prepare and source
The owner drafts content, links primary sources, and identifies claims needing expert attention.
2
Review for the right question
Medical advisers assess clinical accuracy and scope. Community advisers assess clarity, access, military relevance, and practical usefulness.
3
Resolve and document
The owner addresses comments, records material decisions, and publishes the type and date of review.
4
Maintain
Urgent errors are corrected promptly. Time-sensitive pages receive scheduled checks, and material updates trigger another review.
Public roster
No advisers have been appointed.
When appointments are accepted, this section will list each adviser’s name, relevant role or lived-experience perspective, current affiliation, advisory group, term, and a plain-language conflict summary. Departures and completed review dates will remain traceable.
Roster pending
Help shape the Network
Express interest in serving.
Clinicians, rehabilitation professionals, veterans, active-duty service members, spouses, family members, and caregivers may contact the owner. In the first message, include only:
Your name and general role or perspective
The group that interests you
A brief description of relevant experience
Your general availability
Any relevant professional or financial relationships
Do not send medical records, military IDs, service numbers, unit or deployment details, or other sensitive information. An initial email is an expression of interest, not an appointment.
Need another format or communication accommodation? Use the same address and describe the access need without sharing medical details.
Framework sources
Built from public engagement practices.
This independent Network is not a federal advisory committee and does not claim VA, FDA, AHRQ, or PCORI affiliation. Its framework is informed by public guidance on veteran engagement, patient and family advisory councils, balanced panel composition, charters, and conflict transparency.