Dr. Vandre graduated from UCLA in 1977 with a DDS degree. While at UCLA he also earned BS and MS degrees in Physics.  While in school, COL Vandre worked eight years as a research associate for the Aeropsace Corp. doing research on weapons effects on semiconductors, EMP effects on satellites, and spacecraft charging.  He has served in the army since 1977, serving five years as a clinician, and the last twenty-three years in research.  He has published on subjects varying from EMP and radiation effects on semiconductors to, more recently, digital dental radiography and telemedicine.  For two years he managed the Army’s telemedicine program in Bosnia as well as the Army’s teledentistry program which had over 60 functional clinical nodes.  He has a patent on a dental endoscope and also consults on digital dental radiology.  He is personally responsible for two products that have been fielded to the Army, the Hand-Held Dental X-ray and the Filmless Dental Imager (developed in his lab and now sold commercially as the Dexis dental imaging system).

Currently COL Vandre serves as the Research Area Director for Combat Casualty Care Research at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and is the Chairman of the Armed Services Biomedical Research Evaluation & Management (ASBREM) Committee’s Joint technical Coordinating Group (JTCG) on Combat Casualty Care (CCC).  This group manages and coordinates all DOD Combat Casualty Care research.  He is also the US Representative to the Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) Technical Panel HUM-TP12 (Combat Casualty Care) which is an international Combat Casualty Care research coordination committee representing the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.  He also serves as a member of the American Dental Association’s Working Group 12.2, Digital Radiographic Systems.