Olympic Athletes Set to Speak at 2026 Human Performance & Biosystems Summit

There are multiple connections between the military and the Olympics. One is the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), which allows service members to devote themselves to prepare for their particular event at the next Olympic Games. Another is how the military is borrowing concepts from Olympians and elite athletics to maximize the fitness and readiness of their warfighters. Examples of this include the Army’s Holistic Health & Fitness (H2F) program as well as Total Force Fitness (TFF).

There are also organizations that are focused on supporting the branches of service through education, which can sometimes include the wisdom, experience, and guidance of those that have competed on the biggest stages in sports.

One such organization is Defense Strategies Institute (DSI), who will be hosting their Human Performance and Biosystems Summit in National Harbor, MD on June 10-11. This two-day event will feature military leaders and experts that span many aspects of health and wellness, such as SEAC David Isom, sleep experts Dr. Tina Burke and Dr. Sara Algar, and retired Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston.

Olympic Athletes Set to Speak

There will also be a panel hosted by M&F Military Editor Rob Wilkins, who will be involved with this summit for the fourth consecutive year.

Wilkins said, “I’m excited to moderate a panel at the Human Performance & Biosystems Summit, where leaders in military readiness, science, and elite sport come together to share practical, evidence-based information.”

Among the speakers are Airman, three-time Olympian in artistic swimming and 2024 silver medalist Anita Kay Alvarez and Army Lieutenant Colonel Dan Browne, who competed as a distance running athlete in the 2004 Summer Games and transitioned into coaching after his own career ended.

“Our discussion will spotlight WCAP, which allows elite athletes to serve in the US Army or USAF while training and competing on the world stage,” Wilkins stated. Both Alvarez and Browne were involved with their branch’s WCAP program as part of their service.

While Wilkins and his panel will highlight and discuss WCAP, there are several more discussions that will be taking place, all focused on maximizing human performance for those that wear the nation’s uniform. According to DSI Program Manager Melina Panagakos, supporting the Department of War, the military branches, and those who serve in them have been their mission for the last several years, and they cover more than this topic alone.

“We run events from human performance to aviation events and fires, vehicles, energy events, insider threats, insider risks, all of that. So, we cover a lot in our events and so human performance is one of them.”

Rich Giordanno of DSI added that the two priorities they work to provide for their attendees are education and access. Whether those attendees are from the military, private sector, or small to mid-size businesses, the focus is on providing the maximum value for their time being there. That is also why their summits are set up more as fireside chats than a speaker onstage lecturing.

“They are able to talk to some of these senior leaders like an H2F, like somebody who’s in charge of TFF or any of those big programs across the services.”

The summit’s moderator is Former Executive Director of the Office of Force Resiliency and Former Acting Assistant Secretary of Readiness, Dr. Elizabeth Van Winkle. It will be her second year in that role, which both Giordanno and Panagakos appreciate.

“She’s been great. A big piece of this is having support from the moderator, and she’s been amazing to work with.”

This summit is closed to media, but registration is open for those that wish to know more about the topic of human performance and readiness.

Panagakos said, “Anyone who kind of has interest in this sphere, they are more than welcome to register on our site. This is for everyone across the services and defense and anyone who’s interested in human performance and fitness and all that can find something at this event.”

There will also be exhibitors and networking opportunities throughout the two-day event. You can learn more about DSI, the Human Performance & Biosystems Summit, and their future events by going to their website.