The Official USU Newsletter

Volume 8, Issue 13 • September 3, 2013

www.usuhs.edu
2 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

On the cover

Second-year medical students at the 

Uniformed Services University took part in 

a unique field-training exercise designed to 

teach advanced military medical skills. Read 

more about their training on page 4.

Sharon Willis

Deputy Vice President for External 

Affairs and Managing Editor

Gwendolyn Smalls

Chief, Media Affairs

Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson

Deputy Chief, Media Affairs

Christine Creenan-Jones

Editor

MC2 Brittney Cannady

Writer

Lori Fields

Layout and Design

The Pulse is printed by USU’s Duplicating Center.

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published by the Uniformed Services University. It is 

authorized for members of the U.S. military services, 

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not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, 

the DoD or USU. Appearance of anything resembling 

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The contents of this publication shall be made 

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physical handicap, political affiliation or any other 

non-merit factor of the user or patron.

Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by 

the USU Office of External Affairs. The editor reserves 

the right to edit articles to conform to DoD policy 

and Associated Press style. All photos are DoD photos 

unless otherwise indicated. 

The Pulse will be published bi-weekly on Mondays. 

The deadline for submissions is at 4 p.m. Tuesday prior 

to the publication date. Submissions can be sent to 

christine.creenan-jones@usuhs.edu or 301-295-3338.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Kellermann named 

new dean of medical school

 Sharon Willis, managing editor and deputy vice president for External Affairs

Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a senior 

policy analyst at the RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C., has 

been named the new dean of the F. 

Edward Hébert School of Medicine 

at the Uniformed Services University following a year-long search.

Kellermann will be responsible for 

the undergraduate medical education 

of more than 640 uniformed medical 

students and more than 240 military 

and civilian graduate students each year.

“The search committee was 

extremely thorough in its efforts to find 

the best candidate to lead the School 

of Medicine, and Dr. Kellermann rose 

to the top of a very competitive field,” 

said Dr. Charles Rice, president of USU. 

“In addition to being one of the nation’s 

leading experts in emergency medicine 

and public health, Dr. Kellermann is a 

recognized expert in health policy. His 

vast experience will be invaluable to the 

future of the F. Edward Hébert School 

of Medicine, and to USU, and we are 

very pleased that he will be joining us.”

Kellermann is equally enthusiastic 

to join the USU community.

“I am humbled and excited by the 

opportunity,” he said. “In many regards, 

USU is America’s medical school – it 

has a unique mission, an exceptional 

faculty and an amazing group of 

students from across the United States. I 

am honored to join the team.”

Kellermann’s career is anchored 

in academic medicine and public 

health. Before joining RAND, a 

nonprofit research organization where 

he is the Paul O’Neill Alcoa chair in 

policy analysis, he was a professor of 

emergency medicine and public health 

and an associate dean for health policy 

at the Emory School of Medicine in 

Atlanta. He founded Emory’s Department of Emergency Medicine and 

served as its first chair from 1999 

to 2007. He established the Emory 

Center for Injury Control, and holds 

“Excellence in Science” awards from 

two organizations: the Society for 

Academic Emergency Medicine and 

the Injury Control and Emergency 

Health Services Section of the American Public Health Association.

A two-term member of the board 

of directors of the American College 

of Emergency Physicians, Kellermann 

was subsequently given ACEP’s highest 

award for leadership. Elected to the 

Institute of Medicine in 1999, Kellermann co-chaired the IOM Committee 

on the Consequences of Uninsurance, 

which issued six reports between 2001 

and 2004. He also served on the IOM’s 

Committee on the Future of Emergency 

Care in the U.S. Health System and the 

Committee on Effectiveness of National 

Biosurveillance Systems: BioWatch and 

the Public Health System.

Kellermann currently serves on the 

IOM’s Governing Council. A clinician 

and researcher, he practiced and taught 

emergency medicine for more than 25 

years in public teaching hospitals in 

Seattle, Atlanta and Memphis, Tenn. 

His research has addressed a wide 

range of issues, including health care 

spending and information technology, 

prevention and treatment of traumatic 

brain injury, the synergy between 

emergency care and public health, and 

disaster preparedness.

Dr. Arthur Kellermann

Courtesy Photo
September 3, 2013 3

Photo by Sharon Willis

Shopping trip turns into trauma management practicum 

for military medical students

By Sharon Willis, managing editor and deputy vice president for External Affairs

A seemingly routine trip to a 

local store became an extraordinary test of skill and character for 

two Uniformed Services University 

medical students when a terrible 

accident left a wake of destruction 

and several lives in the balance. 

Army 2nd Lt. Wells Weymouth, 

from Tampa, Fla., and Navy Ensign 

John Hunt, from Cypress, Calif., had 

recently completed their first year of 

medical school and decided to take a 

combat medical skills course as their 

summer operational rotation. The 

class – focused primarily on the kinds 

of trauma management skills military 

healthcare providers need in a combat 

theater of operations – is one example 

of the specialized courses USU offers as 

part of its unique curriculum, and the 

second such course the pair had taken 

within the previous four months. 

Weymouth and Hunt had just begun 

the second phase when they volunteered 

to make a run to a nearby Sam’s Club in 

Gaithersburg, Md., to pick up hot dogs 

that were going to be used for a lesson 

on wound debridement.

The officers made their purchases, 

stopped at the concession stand for a 

quick bite to eat, and made their way 

toward the exit when they heard a loud 

explosion. Their first thought was that a 

bomb had gone off. Instead, they turned 

to see that a car, driven by a 77-year old 

man, had crashed through the store’s 

exterior wall. The car stopped in front 

of the concession stand, where Wells 

and Hunt had purchased their lunches 

minutes earlier. 

“We heard this giant explosion and 

we looked over and there was just 

dust coming out of the concession 

stand and then we see a car coming 

at maybe 20-30 miles per hour into 

Sam’s Club,” said Hunt. “We heard 

screaming and a lot of noise, and then 

the car eventually stopped against a 

pallet of Gatorade. I saw two people 

go down immediately.” 

For a brief moment, the students 

looked at each other, stunned by the 

scene they’d just witnessed. But their 

hesitation didn’t last long. Weymouth 

and Hunt ran over to the vehicle to 

see if they could help. Once the dust 

settled, they saw two casualties.

Hunt and Weymouth asked the first 

victim, a man in his 30s, how he was 

doing. The man pointed to his chest, 

so they quickly assessed his condition, 

checked his pulse and for any blood 

loss. He appeared to be stable, so they 

turned their attention to the second 

victim, 76-year-old Dimas Chavez.

Chavez was conscious and spoke to 

them in Spanish. Weymouth reassured 

him in Spanish that things would be 

okay, and they were there to help. Soon 

after, the students discovered that 

Chavez was hemorrhaging and that 

one of his legs was nearly severed in 

the crash.

Their course work at USU suddenly 

became more relevant than ever. Hunt 

and Weymouth removed their belts 

and used them as tourniquets to stem 

the bleeding. It didn’t stop, so they 

requested additional belts from nearby 

shoppers and were eventually successful in slowing the blood loss. 

“We maintained pressure on the 

wound and used our belts and other 

people’s belts as makeshift tourniquets 

before the paramedics and firefighters 

arrived,” says Weymouth. 

One of the pair continued to apply 

pressure while the other called for 

scissors or a knife to cut the man’s clothing to check for additional injuries. 

“He was breathing fine,” Weymouth 

continued. “We just went through 

the mental checklist of lifesaving 

procedures that we could accomplish 

during that time.” 

Soon after, emergency crews arrived 

on scene. Hunt and Weymouth 

Continued to page 5

Navy Ensign John Hunt and Army 2nd Lt. Wells Weymouth practiced the life-saving 

techniques they recently learned in class at the Uniformed Services University during 

a trip to Sam’s Club, after an elderly man drove through the store wall and injured 

several bystanders.
4 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

Realistic field training resonates with medical students

By Christine Creenan-Jones, editor

The tranquil woods surrounding the 

Uniformed Services University became 

a makeshift battlefield as “war fighters” 

grappled with life-threatening injuries 

under a canopy of densely wooded 

ferns this summer. They were shot, 

impaled, and blown up – and only 

USU’s second-year medical students 

could save them.

The harrowing simulation – 

designed to replicate common injuries 

of modern-century war – was part 

of the Department of Military and 

Emergency Medicine’s innovative 

field training known as FTX 201.

“As the country’s only military 

medical school, we think it’s important 

for our students to know advanced 

combat medical skills,” said Air Force 

Maj. (Dr.) Craig Goolsby, an assistant 

professor in MEM and the Combat 

Medical Skills course director. “This 

exercise was designed to give them 

a realistic frontline experience with 

exposure to the kind of combat trauma 

that has been prevalent in theater 

operations for the past 10 years.”

Creating authentic lesson plans 

has always been a priority for MEM, 

and this year faculty members pushed 

battlefield realism to a new level with 

Cut Suit technology. The speciallydesigned suits are equipped with 

broken bones, skin lacerations, arterial 

hemorrhages and blocked airways. 

During FTX 201, teaching assistants wore them so USU’s medical 

students could perform real procedures on human “patients” in a field 

environment.

“Sitting in a classroom and practicing on a dummy doesn’t utilize 

leadership and teamwork skills like 

working on a screaming, writhing 

patient in a simulation,” said Ensign 

Allison Coates, a second-year medical 

student, who took part in the summer 

field training exercise. Her classmate, 

Army 2nd Lt. Daniel Lammers, agrees.

“The ability to work with real 

patients and “live” tissue is something 

that is unparalleled by anything else. 

The feel, sounds and movements are 

all components of the uncertainty real 

patients bring forth that simply cannot 

be mimicked by any sort of mannequin. Not only that, the ability to look 

your patient in the eyes and directly 

communicate with them also develops 

a bond that strengthens your commitment to fight for the patient,” he said.

Although the tactile lessons during 

FTX 201 resonated with Coates and 

Lammers, it was only part of MEM’s 

innovative training. The two-week 

training session also included lectures 

and demonstrations. MEM’s manifold 

approach for teaching advanced 

military medical skills impressed top 

military leaders, including Dr. Eric 

Schoomaker, a scholar in residence 

at USU, who also served as surgeon 

general of the Army.

“I was very impressed with the 

students, some of whom were key 

teaching assistants and who effectively managed the pace and tasks 

required at each casualty site while 

the student-practitioners selforganized into small teams of a leader 

and well-informed “subordinate” team 

members. This permitted them to 

maintain a global view of the casualty 

while dividing up the individual 

components of the resuscitation 

sequence,” he said. “Taking opportunities like this one to build spontaneous and effective joint medical teams 

was an important feature of this field 

exercise, was mirrored in classroom 

phases of the course and is replicated 

throughout the four-year curriculum 

both in the classroom and on the field 

at USU.”

During field training, students had the opportunity to perform a variety of surgical 

procedures on live patients using Cut Suit technology, a system that simulates traumatic 

injuries and allows role players to react to their battle injuries in a realistic fashion.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
September 3, 2013 5

The Uniformed Services University will begin awarding master’s 

degrees in oral biology to officers 

who complete Comprehensive Dentistry and Endodontics 

programs at Keesler Air Force Base 

in Mississippi in 2015. In recognition of this new partnership, Dr. 

Patrick Sculley, executive dean of 

the Postgraduate Dental College, 

presented a USU-affiliation plaque 

to faculty members at Keesler Air 

Force Base, Aug. 5.

“Keesler has a long history of 

providing quality postgraduate-level 

education to high-achieving military 

dentists. We are proud to maintain 

this tradition at USU as we welcome 

two new programs into our Postgraduate Dental College,” said Sculley.

PDC expands with the addition of two 

new dental programs

By Christine Creenan-Jones, editor

Photo by Army Spc. Laura Owen

Dr. Patrick Sculley, executive dean of the Postgraduate Dental College at the 

Uniformed Services University, presented a USU-affiliation plaque to faculty 

members at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Shopping trip turns 

into trauma management practicum...

Continued from page 3

continued their efforts, working 

alongside the fire and police personnel 

until the victims were taken from the 

scene and sent to local area hospitals. 

Chavez was airlifted to the University 

of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock 

Trauma Center in Baltimore. The other 

victim was taken to Suburban Hospital 

in Bethesda, and a third person, who 

sustained only minor injuries, was 

taken to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Gaithersburg.

“I felt like we did the best we could. 

We were given great training and we 

just acted on instinct,” said Hunt. 

“We just got in there really quick. 

I felt confident enough to get in 

there. Before this training, I probably 

couldn’t have done that, at least not in 

the time that I did.”

The manager of Sam’s Club, Mark 

Sohm, praised the two officers. “Where 

other people didn’t know or react, their 

military training immediately went 

into effect. It was a good reflection to 

the community, to everyone shopping 

here, about the military itself, and a 

pretty heroic action.”

USU’s leadership agreed.

“2nd Lt. Weymouth and Ensign 

Hunt are excellent examples of the 

caliber of students we have here 

at USU, and are a testament to the 

education and training offered at 

this university,” said Dr. Charles 

Rice, president of USU. “In fact, two 

additional members of their medical 

school class also recently responded 

to emergency situations, using their 

newly-acquired knowledge and skills 

to help provide medical care and to 

save a life. We are extremely proud of 

2nd Lt. Weymouth and Ensign Hunt, 

and all of our students.” 

 After giving police officers their 

statements, Hunt and Weymouth 

returned to class to learn more lifesaving techniques.

Trivia Answer #2:Graduate School of 

Nursing 20th Anniversary

Congratulations to Navy Capt. 

Mark Stephens, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the 

Uniformed Services University, 

for answering last issue’s trivia 

question first: Can you name 

the charter dean of the Graduate 

School of Nursing?

His response, Dr. Faye Abdellah, 

is correct. 
6 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

The Uniformed Services University community took time away from 

their typical work day to celebrate 

diversity at the third annual Festival of Cultures, Aug. 15. The event, 

held in the breezeway and courtyard 

of the university, included various 

forms of entertainment throughout 

the day. Those attending were treated 

to a variety of international foods, 

a Tae Kwon Do demonstration, and 

face painting and a moon bounce for 

families with children. 

“It’s important to learn about 

our different cultures and discover 

through food, art and socializing 

that we have so much in common,” 

said Edmund Burke, a program 

support specialist at USU and Festival of Cultures planning committee 

member. “The Festival of Cultures 

gives us all an opportunity to globetrot like Anthony Bourdain by 

sampling international food, enjoying international entertainment and 

learning a little bit more about lands 

near and far.”

 Several members of the USU 

community volunteered as cultural 

ambassadors during the festival and 

showcased different customs from 

around the world. Members of the 

Hawai’i State Society Ukulele Hui of 

Washington and students from the 

University of Maryland’s Filipino 

Cultural Association also performed 

traditional dances and songs during 

the festival.

Those who took part in festivities 

tasted several different cuisines such as 

tamales, pupusas – a Salvadorian dish 

made from tortillas filled with pork, 

cheese or beans – roasted cassava, pot 

stickers, tea eggs and fried plantains. 

The university’s brigade commander, 

Air Force Col. Kevin Glasz, was the 

festival’s guest speaker and took the 

opportunity to share his thoughts on 

embracing different cultures. 

“When I first was asked to 

deliver words about diversity I was 

excited. I began to reflect on my 

own background,” said Glasz, whose 

father and wife both immigrated to 

the United States. “This festival is 

about respect and respecting others. 

I encourage everyone to learn about 

someone different than themselves.”

Glasz also discussed his command 

philosophy: taking care of the 

mission, team and self as it relates to 

diversity. “I believe we are a stronger nation because we are a melting 

pot. Not everyone here is a scientist, 

doctor or researcher, but everyone 

contributes to the team,” he said. 

“Today we must renew our vow to 

break down barriers to inclusion and 

become more culturally intelligent.”

USU holds Festival of Cultures

By MC2 Brittney Cannady, writer

The annual Festival of Cultures at the 

Uniformed Services University celebrated the 

university’s diversity and showcased rituals, 

sports and forms of entertainment from 

around the world, including a tae kwon do 

demonstration by a local martial arts club.

The Festival of Cultures was a family-friendly 

event with diverse activities for participants 

of all ages.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
September 3, 2013 7

Ranging from a display board 

featuring bullets and fragments from 

explosive devices once embedded in 

the limbs of service members, to a 

Vietnamese pharmaceutical kit, Dr. 

Norman Rich, the founding chair and 

namesake of the Uniformed Services 

University’s Department of Surgery, is 

in the process of donating the last of 

his impressive collection of Vietnam 

War-era medical items to the National 

Museum of Health and Medicine in 

Silver Spring, Md.

Rich, a renowned vascular 

surgeon and career U.S. Army 

Medical Corps officer, set up a 

small medical museum within the 

2nd Surgical Hospital in An Khe, 

Vietnam, while serving as chief of 

its department of surgery during 

the Vietnam War. The idea to create 

the museum occurred to Rich while 

reading “Wound Ballistics,” a World 

War II and Korean War review of 

ballistics and wounding power. After 

he finished reading the book, Rich 

decided to collect similar information for surgeons treating wounded 

service members in Vietnam.

Rich began asking for donations 

of bullets and other objects retrieved 

during surgery. When word spread 

of the project, Rich soon had enough 

items to begin compiling his medical 

museum. All branches of the American military services contributed, he 

said, and each item was saved, identified and catalogued. Reports were 

also made with a detailed description 

of the wound and the origin of the 

wounding object.

Rich’s collection also includes 

several punji sticks – a type of wooded 

stake made of sharpened bamboo and 

primarily used in booby traps. Rich 

noted that he saw more than 200 punji 

stick wounds while serving at the 2nd 

Surgical Hospital.

After completing his tour of duty in 

Vietnam, Rich arranged for many of 

the items he collected in Vietnam to 

be shipped to the National Museum of 

Health and Medicine, which at the time 

was called the Armed Forces Medical 

Museum and was an element of the 

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 

in Washington, so the objects could 

be viewed by the public. A soldier’s 

boot that was punctured by a punji 

stick is on display today in an exhibit 

commemorating the 150th anniversary 

of the founding of the Army Medical 

Museum, which is today’s NMHM.

Rich also donated a mortar base, 

two flechettes, an M-79 grenade and 

thermometer bearing the words, 

“Made in the USSR.” He chose to give 

his items to NMHM because Rich 

believed they would find a good home 

at the museum.

Alan Hawk, the collections 

manager for the Historical Collections division at NMHM, said Rich’s 

collection and his establishment 

of a medical museum in Vietnam 

is similar to the Army Medical 

Museum’s own founding.

“Dr. Rich’s collection is in the tradition of the Army Medical Museum 

during the Civil War, preserving the 

wounding agents of war to inform 

contemporary and future military 

surgeons,” Hawk said. “It is a very 

important collection, and we are glad 

to have it and be able to preserve it.”

Renowned USU faculty member donates 

Vietnam War Medical Collection to local museum

Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine

Dr. Adrianne Noe, director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Dr. Norman Rich 

(center), founding chair of the Department of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University, and 

Alan Hawk, the Historical Collections manager at NMHM, stand next to some of the Vietnam Warera objects donated by Rich to NMHM.

Photo Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine

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Final Frame

Incoming medical students were issued dozens of text books by 

the Multidisciplinary Laboratory staff, Aug. 21. The load was so 

large, most students brought suitcases to haul their books away.

Photo by Thomas Balfour