The Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record Program Management Office earned the Team Gold Award in the 25th Department of War CIO Annual Awards Program for achievements within the chief information officer capabilities, developing vital tools that support service members and veterans.

Cmdr. Raben B. Talvo, team product officer, accepted the award on behalf of the office during a ceremony at the Pentagon, Virginia, Feb. 23, 2026. The annual program hosted individuals and teams from across DOW with achievements in digital modernization, cybersecurity, and information technology-enabled mission support.

“ILER exists to ensure that service members and veterans have a clear, consolidated record of their occupational and environmental exposures when it matters most,” said Talvo.

ILER team turns exposure data into a mission enabler

The ILER Program Management Office was recognized for improving how the department tracks, understands, and responds to occupational and environmental exposures over a service member’s career. The tool supports more than 11.9 million service members and veterans. It also gives leaders a near-real-time view of potential long-term health risks.

“We are very proud to represent how the Military Health System is striving every day to fulfill its readiness mission through IT innovation,” Talvo said. “The advancements we have made with ILER are just one example of how we are modernizing IT systems to maximize support to the joint force and leveraging business intelligence, technology, and innovation to streamline operations.”

Talvo described the team’s day-to-day focus on keeping ILER reliable and useful for the field.

The ILER team “enhances and sustains the web-based application which assists DOW and Department of Veterans Affairs personnel in managing exposure data and caring for service members and veterans,” Talvo said. “By linking service member and veteran data to known exposures, ILER supports individualized health care.”

A key component of ILER is linking a person’s service history, deployments, garrison assignments, and individual monitoring data with environmental exposures and health outcomes in a single portal.

“ILER was developed to bring together documented environmental and occupational exposure information into one secure, centralized system,” Talvo said. “Historically, this information lived in different places and wasn’t always easy to access or connect over time. ILER was built to solve that.”

Talvo said that congressional direction, including provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act, “emphasized the need to improve exposure tracking and strengthen DOW-VA data sharing. ILER directly supports those requirements by standardizing and consolidating exposure information and improving interoperability between departments.”

A service member may submit self-reported information not reflected in their service history, said Talvo. “This can include deployment locations, duty stations, specific exposure events, or registry participation. The information is clearly marked as self-reported and does not change official records. However, it can provide additional context that may be useful during clinical discussions or future reviews.”

Though a DOW-developed system, ILER’s impact depends “heavily on collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Through the VA-DOW Health Executive Committee governance structure and the ILER business line workgroup, we coordinate closely on standards, enhancements, and long-term sustainment,” according to Talvo.

The focus is on continuity, ensuring exposure information follows the service member beyond active duty.

For providers, said Talvo, “ILER offers a consolidated view of documented exposures that can help inform clinical conversations and care decisions. For researchers, it supports broader analysis of exposure trends and long-term health outcomes. For service members and veterans, it provides visibility into documented exposure history and strengthens transparency across their service and post-service experience.”

Talvo said having this information is important because “exposure effects aren’t always immediate. They can emerge years later. Having information consolidated and preserved ensures it doesn’t get lost across deployments, duty stations, or transitions out of service. ILER helps protect continuity. It ensures that exposure history is organized and available when it’s needed … whether for care, research, or benefits review.”

“ILER is not just a system; it’s part of a larger joint effort between DOW and VA to improve continuity across a service member’s lifecycle. That has real implications for readiness, research, and trust in the system,” he added.

Warfighter readiness benefits from ILER because “readiness isn’t just about today’s deployability; it’s about long-term force health protection,” noted Talvo. “By organizing and standardizing exposure data, ILER supports better surveillance, earlier awareness of risk patterns, and more informed policy decisions. It contributes to a healthier force by ensuring leaders and clinicians have the data needed to protect service members over time.”