The Official USU Newsletter

Volume 10, Issue 11 June 22, 2015

www.usuhs.edu

Learning to Care for Those in Harm’s Way
2 the pulse June 22, 2015

Army Maj. Alexander Smith receives a Master 

of Science in Oral Biology degree from the 

Uniformed Services University during the 

Naval Postgraduate Dental School's graduation 

ceremony, June 12, 2015. Twenty dental officers 

received their degrees at the ceremony. (Photo 

by Danielle Snowden)

Uniformed Services University Launches 

Health Professions Education Degree Program

By Allen Kay, Department of Medicine

On the cover

Advancing its mission of preparing 

the next generation of health educators and 

leaders in the military and public health 

systems, the Department of Medicine of 

the Uniformed Services University of the 

Health Sciences (USU) is launching two 

new innovative and rigorous programs – 

the Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Health 

Professions Education (HPE).

Advanced degrees in health professions 

education are increasingly emphasized 

as a requirement for academic leadership 

positions in the medical education system 

in North America. USU’s F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine has developed the 

new HPE degree programs to address the 

growing need within the Military Health 

System (MHS). The MHS is one of the 

largest health systems in the U.S. with 9.6 

million beneficiaries.

“The MHS has a pressing need for 

physicians with educational expertise to 

serve as leaders in undergraduate and 

graduate medical education,” said Dr. 

Brian Reamy, Senior Associate Dean 

for Academic Affairs, in the School of 

Medicine. “All military services have 

suffered a significant attrition of senior 

ranking physician-educators and program 

leaders through retirements, separations 

and changes in promotion pathways, yet 

the number and scope of our educational 

programs continue to expand.”

The Master of Health Professions 

Education (MHPE) degree and the Doctor 

of Philosophy in Health Professions 

Education (PhD in HPE) degree in the USU 

Department of Medicine, were established 

to develop educational scholars to serve as 

academic leaders (e.g., program directors, 

clinical directors, and educational deans) 

who will then contribute to the continuous 

advancement of health professions 

education and research in the MHS and 

civilian communities. “Our goal is to show 

that aligning educational programs will 

have a lasting impact on the MHS system,” 

explained Dr. Louis Pangaro, chairman of 

the Department of Medicine at USU.

“We anticipate the need for a cadre of 

new leaders with expertise in the theory, 

research, and practice of health professions 

education within the MHS,” Dean Arthur 

Kellermann, MD, MPH, said. “The need to 

restructure medical education to meet the 

needs of the public, and especially to ensure 

safe, cost effective healthcare, is universally 

accepted,” he explained, citing a number of 

recognized experts.

The University is seeking aspiring 

medical education leaders for these 

programs. The degree programs are geared 

to active duty military personnel who are 

health professionals, including physicians, 

dentists, nurses and veterinarians, as well 

as civilian health professionals working in 

the Military Health System or the Public 

Health Service. 

For more information about the HPE 

programs, please visit: https://www.usuhs.

edu/hpe. To register, please visit: http://

www.usuhs.edu/graded/application.html.

Sharon Holland

Deputy Vice President for External 

Affairs and Managing Editor

Eric Ritter

Writer and Editor

MC3 Laura Bailey

Writer and Photographer

Alexis Christman 

Communications Intern

Kiernan Kiser 

Communications Intern 

Danielle Snowden 

Communications Intern

 

Production

Editorial content is edited, prepared 

and provided by the USU Office of 

External Affairs unless otherwise 

indicated. The Pulse staff may 

include or exclude articles based 

upon news value, impact on the 

university and space availability.

Submissions

The Pulse is published 

biweekly on Mondays. The deadline 

for submissions is at 4 p.m. 

Tuesday prior to the publication 

date. Submissions can be sent to 

eric.ritter2@usuhs.edu or by calling 

301-295-3338.

Members of the new Health Professions Education degree program faculty and staff include: (Front 

row, left to right): Dr. Anthony Artino, Dr. Steven Durning, Dr. Lara Varpio. (Back row, left to 

right): Elizabeth Darby, Allen Kay, Dr. Katherine Picho (Photo by Thomas Balfour)
3 the pulse June 22, 2015

Enlisted to Medical Degree Program Now Accepting Marine Applicants

By Military Health System Communications Office

Enlisted Marines who’ve thought about 

a career path in medicine can now apply 

for a unique program offered through 

the Uniformed Services University of the 

Health Sciences (USU). The Enlisted to 

Medical Degree Preparatory Program 

(EMDP2), which got underway in 2014 

with its first class of five soldiers and five 

airmen, is now accepting applications from 

enlisted Marines for its 2016 class.

The Secretary of the Navy has 

authorized five slots for Marine applicants 

in the 2016 EMDP2 class. The application 

deadline for the 2016 class is Nov. 1, 2015, 

and the selection board will convene in 

December. Additionally, any Marine who 

feels he or she meets the requirements in 

Marine Administrative Message 277/15 

(MARADMIN), and would like to apply for 

EMDP2’s 2015 class, must do so by June 30.

Graduates from the Naval Postgraduate Dental School wait to receive their degrees from the Uniformed Services 

University during the Naval Postgraduate Dental School's graduation ceremony, June 12, 2015. (Photo by Danielle 

Snowden)

Naval Postgraduate Dental School confers 20 degrees 

By Alexis Christman, Communications Intern

Dental, Cont. Page 7 

The EMDP2 Program is a two-year 

undergraduate program open to enlisted 

personnel of all ranks with less than 10 years 

of service. The program is a partnership 

between USU and the services to provide 

opportunities for highly motivated 

enlisted service members with strong 

academic records. It prepares candidates 

to apply to USU or civilian medical schools 

through the military’s Health Professions 

Scholarship Program. Applicants selected 

for the program incur a five-year service 

obligation, which includes the two years of 

the program.

Among the EMDP2 application 

requirements detailed in the MARADMIN, 

Marines must have a bachelor’s degree 

from an accredited academic institution 

in the U.S., its territories or Canada. An 

international bachelor’s degree is acceptable 

if the applicant has a master’s degree from 

an accredited institution in the U.S., its 

territories or Canada. Applicants must be 

citizens of the United States with no record 

of court-martial conviction, nonjudicial 

punishment or civilian felony convictions. 

For all of the application requirements go 

to MARADMIN 277/15.

Program participants are selected by 

a consolidated Navy and Marine Corps 

board, and assigned to USU in Bethesda, 

Maryland, for two years. Students remain on 

active duty while completing coursework at 

George Mason University-Prince William 

Campus in northern Virginia, and receive 

pay and benefits of their current pay grade. 

Tuition, books and other expenses are paid 

for by the program.

Twenty residents 

representing the U.S. 

Army, Navy and Veterans 

Administration, received 

Master of Science in Oral 

Biology degrees from 

the Uniformed Services 

University of Health 

Sciences (USU), during the 

Naval Postgraduate Dental 

School’s (NPDS) graduation 

ceremony on June 12, 

2015. These graduates were 

among 22 dental officers 

who completed residency 

training at NPDS. Navy 

Capt. Glenn Munro, the 

dean of NPDS, served as 

host for the graduation 

ceremony in the Memorial 

Auditorium at Walter Reed 

National Military Medical 

Center. USU President 
4 the pulse June 22, 2015

Medics to help Warrior Games athletes compete at highest levels

by Military Health Sytem Communications Office 

Professionals from the military’s medical school are on 

hand to support the athletes of the 2015 Department of Defense 

Warrior Games that began Friday, June 19, at Marine Corps Base 

Quantico, Virginia, and run through June 28. The Uniformed 

Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in Bethesda, 

Maryland, is helping by coordinating care from physicians, 

physical therapists and medics who belong to the school and 

who are traveling to the games from other bases. They’ll support 

the approximately 270 athletes taking part in the adaptive 

sports event. Army Col. Jeff Leggit with USU said there are two 

categories of issues USU medical staff deal with: illness and injury.

“Illnesses happen no matter what you are doing,” explained 

Leggit. “Injuries at the games can vary from overuse of upper 

body muscles for athletes in wheel chairs to strains any ablebodied athlete might have. We’re here to support them all.”

Leggit explained there are some unique injuries for these 

athletes, including stump care for amputees or urinary issues 

for paralyzed athletes. The venue provides a concentrated 

opportunity for medical staff to treat injuries that are unique to 

the wounded warrior.

“There’s some prototypical overuse injuries we know 

most wounded warriors are going to suffer, such as irritation 

from prosthetics and upper extremity overuse,” he said. 

“We recommend what we call pre-habilitation, focusing on 

strengthening those upper extremities.”

Air Force Maj. Chris Ledford (blue hat) and Army Maj. Patrick Carey (black hat) examine the prosthetic legs of British Army Trooper Chris Middleton at the 

Warrior Games at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. Both Ledford and Carey are sports medicine fellows at the Uniformed Services University of the Health 

Sciences (USU) and are part of the medical support for the competition which runs through June 28.

Even with such preventive measures, Leggit still expects a 

certain number of injuries because of the nature of competitive 

athletics. USU personnel are there to ensure the safety of the 

athletes, whether this involves relieving the aches and pains of 

these fierce competitors or giving game officials advice in case the 

weather turns too hot for safe competition. Said Leggit, “Our role 

is to make sure people compete to their maximum ability in a safe 

environment.”

While Warrior Games participants have had to learn new 

sports, the medics have become well-versed in a variety of games 

to help athletes compete at the highest level. “Even though I 

played rugby as an able-bodied person, wheelchair rugby has 

different rules and different requirements, so I need to understand 

those to help the teams compete at the maximum level,” Leggit 

said.

Leggit added the athletes involved are competitive by nature, 

and events such as wheelchair rugby and basketball turn some 

of the games into true contact sports. “These are warriors, and 

we expect we’ll see injuries from the leaving-it-all-on-the-field 

mindset.” Overall, Leggit expects the Warrior Games to be a 

positive experience for athletes and medics alike.

“The Warrior Games use sports as a way to heal,” he said. 

“Anywhere we can help push the idea of using exercise as 

medicine, we’ll do it.”
5 the pulse June 22, 2015

USU’s DVCIPM is leading advancements in pain management, 

battlefield anesthesia

by Kiernan Kiser 

DVCIPM, Cont. Page 6 

pain medicine, education of providers and students, and research 

into emerging pain management therapies with utility in military 

environments.”

Along with the Pain Management Task Force (PMTF) 

charted by then-Army Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Eric M. Schoomaker in 

2009, DVCIPM has a focus on tapping the unrealized benefits of 

integrative and complementary medicine in pain management. 

Through alternatives such as acupuncture, massage therapy and 

yoga, patients are able to decrease their dependence on some 

medications and play a role in their own pain condition. 

Over the last five years, in response to the PMTF directive to 

develop more functionally based pain patient outcome screening 

tools, the program has developed the Pain Assessment Screening 

Tool and Outcome Registry (PASTOR). In conjunction with the 

Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System 

(PROMIS), developed by the National Institutes of Health, 

PASTOR works to provide a comprehensive database that can 

Since October 2003, when the first continuous peripheral 

nerve block was placed in an American soldier on the battlefield, 

this technique has become a primary method for management of 

extremity wounds in combat zones. While morphine has been the 

most common solution to ease pain on the battlefield since 1803, 

regional anesthesia is a 21st century answer to pain management. 

This method is an ideal anesthetic for the battlefield because it 

does not require much equipment, has few unwanted side-effects, 

and it allows patients to control their pain. 

Early in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan, the austere 

medical conditions associated with rapid air evacuation from the 

battlefield were resulting in severe pain issues since morphine 

use in this environment was difficult and sometimes dangerous. 

The Army anesthesiology consultant to the Surgeon General, 

then-Col. (Dr.) Jack Chiles, recognized the importance of finding 

safer analgesic alternatives for evacuating wounded. Army Col. 

(Dr.) Chester ‘Trip’ Buckenmaier, III, had recently trained as the 

first fellow in advanced regional anesthesia and was deployed by 

Dr. Chiles to the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Balad, Iraq, to 

demonstrate the utility of continuous peripheral nerve block in 

managing pain during evacuation flights. 

The Army Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management 

Initiative was subsequently established in an effort to introduce 

and further the research of regional anesthesia and other 

analgesic modalities on the battlefield. Directed by Buckenmaier, 

the organization quickly realized that any battlefield pain 

management solution required not just in the Army, but Navy 

and Air Force involvement as well. This resulted in the first 

tri-service pain organization, the Military Advanced Regional 

Anesthesia and Analgesia group. 

“We saw two major issues that we needed to fix. First, 

we recognized the need for a coordinating activity among the 

Department of Defense (DoD) and the uniformed services to 

ensure collaboration across the government. Second, we realized 

that the three uniformed services needed to be represented and 

collaborated with equally,” said Buckenmaier, who is now retired 

from the Army. 

The program, which was headquartered under Walter 

Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, changed its 

name to the Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain 

Management (DVCIPM) when the activity began coordinating 

with the Veterans Administration on casualty pain issues. In 

2014, to better meet its mission of coordinating the pain efforts of 

the military services, they were realigned under the Uniformed 

Services University of the Health Sciences’ F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine. Since pain management involves many 

diverse medical disciplines, not just anesthesiology, the university 

aligned the program under the School of Medicine’s Department 

of Military and Emergency Medicine (MEM). 

“The University and, more specifically MEM, accepted us as 

a program because our missions were consistent and mutually 

supportive of one another,” said Buckenmaier. “Similar to the 

University, DVCIPM’s three main areas of focus are on clinical 

Army Col. Chester C. Buckenmaier III, MD, Director, Defense and 

Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management, with a patient in 

Afghanistan in 2009. (Courtesy photo)
6 the pulse June 22, 2015

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently 

announced that there was a cybersecurity incident affecting its 

systems that may have exposed personal information of current 

and former federal employees.

"Some unethical organizations are using this situation for 

fraudulent purposes," said Charles L. Rice, M.D., president of the 

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). 

"Notifications will address you by name, and you should be 

cautious if asked to offer any personal information. It is best 

to utilize the web sites or telephone lines listed to obtain more 

information rather than clicking on any suspicious email links."

Initially, OPM announced that they would be notifying 

the four million persons affected between June 8-19 through 

email. 

In addition, if OPM does not have a current e-mail address 

on file for you, notification will be sent through regular mail, via 

the U.S. Postal Service.

OPM contracted with CSID, a company which specializes in 

identity theft protection services and credit monitoring, to assist 

in the notification and protection effort. The notification e-mails 

to individuals potentially affected are currently originating from 

the following non-standard e-mail address: opmcio@csid.com.

"A number of personnel have received the email and 

questioned its validity," said Rice. "It is not spam. Please make 

sure you don't inadvertently delete the e-mail from OPM, and 

ensure that you check all of your incoming e-mail accounts to 

ensure that you do not miss the notification." 

"USU civilian personnel are increasingly being notified that 

they are among the ranks of those affected by this breach of 

sensitive PII information at OPM," said Christopher P. Jodrie, 

the information systems security officer and an information 

technology specialist in the Cybersecurity branch at USU. "If 

you receive a notification like the one described, it is indeed 

legitimate and you are encouraged to take action. The subject will 

always be "Important Message from the U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management CIO." Any messages from other account addresses 

or with alternate subjects should be forwarded to the USU 

Cybersecurity branch for investigation."

Information on the breach is available from CSID at: http://

www.csid.com/opm.

OPM Data Breach affects USU personnel 

by MC3 Laura Bailey, staff writer and photographer

Charles L. Rice, M.D., conferred the master's degrees, emphasizing 

the importance of the graduates' contributions to readiness. 

“Dentistry holds enormous importance in ensuring the 

nation’s health and that of our troops. Your contributions are 

essential to the health and well-being of the force. The importance 

of your service cannot be overstated. I am very proud of this year’s 

graduates," said Rice. 

USU master’s graduates from the NPDS include:

Lt. Cmdr. Heidi Ellis (Navy Comprehensive Dentistry)

Lt. Kurt Allan Eriksson (Navy Comprehensive Dentistry)

Lt. Christopher Hanson (Navy Comprehensive Dentistry)

Dental, Cont. from Page 3 

Lt. Andrew Knofczynski (Navy Comprehensive 

Dentistry)

Cmdr. Thomas Carroll (Navy Endodontrics)

Lt. Cmdr. Kittima Boonsirisermsook (Navy 

Endodontics)

Lt. Cmdr. Allen Rasmussen (Navy Endodontics)

Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Rumford IV (Navy Endodontics)

Maj. Samuel Pointdexter (Army Oral and 

Maxillofacial Pathology)

Lt. Cmdr. Teresita La Ronce Alston (Navy 

Periodontics)

Lt. Stephen Hutton (Navy Periodontics)

Lt. Barak Wray (Navy Periodontics)

Lt. Michael Andersen (Navy Prosthodontics)

Lt. John Chamberlain (Navy Prosthodontics)

Lt. James G. Linkous (Navy Prosthodontics)

Lt. Noel Rodriguez (Navy Prosthodontics)

Dr. Alejandra Ortega (Veterans AdministrationProsthodontics)

Maj. Alexander Smith (Army Orofacial Pain)

Lt. Cmdr. Jaime K. Lee (Navy Orofacial Pain)

Lt. James Hawkins (Navy Orofacial Pain)

Captain Glenn Munro concluded the events by stating “These 

graduates now become proud alumni of the Uniformed Services 

University of the Health Sciences, adding to the health care team 

who ensure the health and well-being of our military members, 

and directly increase the readiness of the force,” said Munro. 

Naval Postgraduate Dental School's graduation ceremony, June 12, 2015. (Photo by 

Danielle Snowden)
7 the pulse June 22, 2015

DVCIPM, Cont. from Page 5

Since its humble beginnings in a Bethesda storefront 40 years 

ago, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 

(USU) has produced 5,000 physicians, many of whom have 

distinguished themselves on battlefields, in military clinics 

worldwide, via research, and throughout official Washington. 

To help commemorate this remarkable journey, the 

university’s leadership commissioned a special edition of Military 

 (Courtesy photo)

America's Medical School: 5,000 students later

by Allen Kay, Department of Medicine 

be used to coordinate and enhance pain treatment throughout 

all DoD healthcare facilities. This system leverages computer 

adaptive testing technology that allows the computer to select the 

most informative questions based on prior answers which greatly 

reduces the number of questions a patient has to answer on a 

given topic.

DVCIPM has delivered a number of innovating products 

and programs over the last decade through its research efforts 

that have fundamentally changed pain management for combat 

wounded. Committed to education, each year they conduct the 

Acute Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia Course that trains 

civilian and military anesthesiologists through an intense, cadaver 

anatomy based, hands-on workshop. This course is considered one 

of the best regional anesthesia anatomy courses in the country and 

Medicine, International Journal of AMSUS. (http://publications.

amsus.org/pb-assets/LTCOS%20Special%20Issue_April.pdf)

“I have long been confident that the education we provide at 

USU motivates our students to remain committed to the military 

and to seek leadership opportunities wherever and whenever 

they become available. What the LTCOS has done is to provide 

the factual basis for that confidence and I am grateful to Dr. 

Durning and his colleagues - and to all the students whose careers 

they have tracked - for these important data. They validate Mr. 

[Congressman F. Edward] Hébert's vision for the institution,” said 

Charles L. Rice, M.D., USU president.

One of the unique facets of the School of Medicine has 

been its ability to track students’ accomplishments across their 

education and training and into practice through the Long Term 

Career Outcome Study (LTCOS). Published papers in the Military 

Medicine special edition demonstrate “lessons learned” from this 

program of scholarship for purposes of admission, education and 

training while in medical school, and implications for graduate 

medical education and beyond. The issue also outlines a number 

of medical school innovations and essays on leadership. As 

Professor Lambert Schuwirth concludes in his guest editorial, 

“The stars seem to be aligned for USU with the combination of a 

high-quality educational program, top of the world researchers, 

and visionary leadership.”

The issue begins with the article, “America’s Medical School: 

5,000 Graduates Since the ‘First Class’.” It is at the same time 

a concise history of the school and also a succinct description 

of how its former students have fared when compared to their 

civilian counterparts. The article outlines findings from LTCOS 

studies such as showing that 93% of USU medical students go 

on to achieve board certification as compared to 88% of civilian 

graduates. The issue ends with the finding that USU-educated 

physicians have fulfilled one of the top goals for the program at 

the school’s creation: USU graduates stay on active duty longer 

than their civilian-educated counterparts. 

“We teach medical students to become good physicians,” 

Brian Reamy, M.D., Senior Associate Dean said, “but we’re also 

the leadership academy for the Military Health System and this 

special edition helps us demonstrate both.”

serves as a model for other similar courses. The course, held at 

the University of Maryland, College Park, focuses on techniques 

required to perform successful regional pain blocks through 

hands-on instruction with non-embalmed cadaver specimens, as 

well as ultrasound anatomy skills training on live volunteers. 

Buckenmaier, who routinely teaches at the Acute Pain 

course, said “I never intended on being a consultant on pain 

management. I was trained in regional anesthesia, my specialty 

is acute pain. The research I do is for the advancement of general 

pain management, but it’s not just me. The whole DVCIPM 

organization, through USU, plays a vital role in what I am able 

to do and is collectively responsible for the success DVCIPM has 

experienced in changing battlefield analgesia. 
8 the pulse June 22, 2015

Final Frame

The Murtha Cancer Center held its annual Cancer Awareness Day at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, June 23. USU's Center for Prostate Disease Research was 

among the programs represented at the event. (Photo by Danielle Snowden)