Special Memorial Issue • July 11, 2012

www.usuhs.mil

The Official USU Newsletter
Lieutenant Colonel David Cabrera

The USU clinic was renamed on June 22 to honor a 

beloved faculty member who was killed in action while 

serving in Afghanistan last October. The LTC David E. 

Cabrera Family Health Center, as it’s now called, bears 

the namesake of the popular social worker and assistant professor of Family Medicine, who was laid to rest 

at Arlington National Cemetery on June 18.

Besides teaching USU’s medical students, Cabrera 

counseled servicemembers and their families at the 

on-campus clinic, helping members of the community deal with behavioral health problems like stress, 

anxiety and depression.

“LTC Cabrera was a key component of the University 

Counseling Center,” said Navy Captain Mark Stephens, 

M.D., associate professor of Family Medicine. “As an 

experienced clinician who had been deployed several 

times, he understood on a very personal level what 

warrior ethos is all about. This understanding allowed 

him to connect with his patients to create a safe and 

trusted healing environment.”

Like many of his peers at the clinic, Cabrera also 

hoped to improve standards of care through his 

research at USU. He was part of several investigations 

designed to encourage resilience and combat posttraumatic stress disorder. 

This work and Cabrera’s many other accomplishments 

were recognized at a formal dedication ceremony held in 

front of the newly named health center. 

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Today I followed a Caisson

by Navy Captain Mark Stephens for 

Army Lieutenant Colonel David Cabrera 

 

 Today I followed a Caisson 

 To lonely drummers sound

 Midst friends (though quite alone) I walked

 Our Nation’s Hallowed Grounds

 A widow’s cry, a son’s lost stare

 My thoughts did render pause.

 How great the price, how great the man

 The Sacrifice

 The Cause

 With volleys fired, the buglers tone

 Their echoes soon did cease

 Godspeed my friend, Farewell for now

 My Brother, Rest in Peace
Andre Dubois, M.D., Ph.D.

André Dubois, M.D., Ph.D., a 

professor in USU’s Department of 

Medicine, died on Saturday, June 30, 

following a lengthy illness. He was 73. 

Dr. Dubois was USU’s longestserving faculty member, having joined 

the faculty in 1975. He held appointments as Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Emerging 

Infectious Diseases, and Radiation 

Biology in the School of Medicine, 

and as a Professor of Health Systems 

in the Graduate School of Nursing’s 

Department of Risk/Contingency 

Management. He also held a faculty 

appointment as an adjunct associate 

professor of Physiology at Georgetown 

University School of Medicine for the 

past 28 years.

“Dr. Dubois was an eminent scientist and his work brought renown 

to USU,” said Louis Pangaro, M.D., 

professor and chair, Department of 

Medicine. “He was a trusted, loved 

colleague and he inspired collaboration and a love of science through his 

gentle, thoughtful manner.”

Dr. Dubois was born March 

16, 1939, in Liège, Belgium. He 

immigrated to the U.S. in the early 

1970s, and became a naturalized 

citizen in 1981. He completed his 

premedical studies, magna cum 

laude, at the University of Brussels 

in Belgium, in 1959, followed by his 

Doctor of Medicine degree, magna 

cum laude, there in 1963. In 1975, he 

was awarded his Doctor of 

Philosophy degree, magna cum 

laude, in the Departments of Physiology and Surgery, also from the 

University of Brussels. 

He completed an internal medicine 

internship, followed by a surgical 

residency at the University Hospital of St. Pierre in Brussels, and later 

completed research fellowships at 

the University of Brussels, Columbia 

Presbyterian Medical Center in New 

York, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and 

Harvard Medical School in Boston, 

and at the National Institute of Mental 

Health in Bethesda. 

From 1970-1975, Dr. Dubois 

worked at the National Institutes 

of Health in a variety of capacities: NIMH fellow, visiting associate at the National Cancer Institute, 

and visiting associate and visiting 

scientist at the National Institute of 

Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive 

Diseases. 

In 1975, he began his USU career 

as an instructor in the Department 

of Medicine. Since that time, he 

made significant contributions to the 

University’s teaching and research 

missions and enumerable contributions to the field of gastroenterology, 

specifically gastric physiology and 

infection with Helicobacter pylori, 

including its relationship to stomach 

cancer. He received the James J. 

Leonard Award for his research 

in 2002. Dr. Dubois was a valued 

member of USU’s Faculty Senate, 

serving on the Research Subcommittee for more than 12 years, and an 

active member of a number of USU 

committees throughout his career, 

including the USU/HJF Joint Patent 

and Technology Review Group, 

the USU/HJF Board of Academic 

Advisors, and the AFRRI Research 

Ethics Committee.

A well-funded scientist, Dr. 

Dubois was the author of more 

than 200 papers. He was an active 

member of many professional societies, including the American Gastroenterological Association of which 

he was a Fellow and he had served on 

NIH study sections. 

Dr. Dubois is survived by his wife, 

Marie-Claude Moreau Dubois, and two 

sons, Joel and Laurent.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
Retired Army Colonel (Dr.) Juan C. 

d’Avis, whose devotion to the education of 

USU medical students spanned more than 

three decades, passed away unexpectedly 

on June 9, 2012. He was 74. 

“Dr. d’Avis was a loyal and effective 

faculty member locally and internationally, including Germany and Mexico, as 

well as a valued friend, for many years,” 

said Norman M. Rich, M.D., emeritus 

chair and namesake of USU’s Norman 

M. Rich Department of Surgery.

Juan Carlos d’Avis was born in 

Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 1938. He 

attended medical school at the 

University of San Simon there from 

1956-1964. Following a rotating 

internship, d’Avis came to the United 

States where he pursued a general 

surgery residency at St. Francis 

Hospital in Evanston, Illinois. In 

1969, he joined the U.S. Army, 

and completed his general surgery 

residency at William Beaumont 

Army Medical Center in El Paso, 

Texas, in 1972. He later completed a 

head and neck surgery fellowship at 

Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 

Washington, D.C. 

As an Army surgeon, Dr. d’Avis 

held a variety of positions throughout his career. He was assigned 

to General Leonard Wood Army 

Hospital in Missouri as staff general 

surgeon, chief of the general surgery 

service, and later, chief of the Surgery 

department. Following his fellowship, 

he served as a staff surgeon, assistant 

chief, and later, chief of the General 

Surgery Service, and chief of Surgery 

at WRAMC. From January 1986 until 

December 1991, d’Avis served as the 

general surgery consultant to the Army 

Surgeon General and the vice chair 

of USU’s Department of Surgery. He 

retired from the Army in 1991 at the 

rank of Colonel.

Dr. d’Avis began his medical student 

teaching at USU in 1980 as an assistant 

professor of surgery. A very personable and popular instructor, d’Avis was 

actively involved in educating students 

in both the Surgery and Anatomy 

curricula over the ensuing 32 years.

“Dr. Juan d’Avis was a gifted surgeon 

and educator. He had the unique 

quality of teaching the art and science 

of medicine and conveying it in a most 

engaging fashion. His sense of humor 

was legendary, and he was uniformly 

loved by the students and faculty alike,” 

said Alan Seyfer, M.D., distinguished 

professor in the USU Departments 

of Anatomy and Surgery, and Gross 

Anatomy course director. “We shall 

miss him tremendously as a friend and 

as a teacher of Anatomy.” 

In addition to his USU instructing, 

d’Avis was also involved in military 

graduate medical education, continuing medical education, and as a visiting professor and consultant in surgery 

to a number of organizations over the 

course of his career. He was chair of the 

American College of Surgeons (ACS) 

Army Committee on Trauma from 

1990-1991, a member of the ACS International Relations Committee from 

1995-2001, and a senior member of that 

Committee from 2001-2005. 

Dr. d’Avis received numerous honors 

throughout his Army service, and was 

frequently lauded for his talents as 

an educator. In 1986, he received the 

General Claire L. Chennault Award 

for Outstanding Teacher, and in 1991, 

the Lewis Aspey Mologne Award for 

Military Academic Excellence. Most 

recently, students voted him USU’s 

Outstanding Civilian Educator in 2009.

Dr. d’Avis is survived by his wife, 

Carolyn S. d’Avis; daughter, Patricia 

d’Avis and her husband, Robert George; 

daughter, Cynthia Cohan and her 

husband, Jay Cohan; and three grandchildren, Benjamin George, and Adam 

and Eric Cohan; brother, Federico 

d’Avis; and sister, Maria Eugenia Smith.

Juan C. d’Avis, M.D.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
Retired 

Army Major 

General 

(Dr.) Carl 

W. Hughes, 

who was a 

pioneer in 

the repair of 

acute vascular 

injuries on 

the battlefields of Korea, died June 15 of 

renal failure. He was 97.

Hughes, who was a Distinguished 

Professor of Surgery at USU, was widely 

credited with demonstrating for the 

first time that successful repair of both 

injured arteries and veins was possible 

on the battlefield.

Originally from Eminence, Missouri, 

Hughes earned his undergraduate degree 

from the University of Missouri in 1939. 

He graduated from the University of 

Tennessee with a medical degree in 1944. 

More than 50 years later, he was awarded 

an honorary Doctor of Science degree 

from the University of Missouri. 

After medical school, he completed 

an internship at Baptist Memorial 

Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, 

followed by postgraduate training at the 

John Gaston Hospital in Memphis and 

later, at Walter Reed Army Hospital in 

Washington, D.C. 

Hughes joined the Army in 1946 

and spent most of his career in the 

surgery departments of the 57th Field 

Hospital, Wurzburg, Germany; the 

385th Station Hospital, Nurnberg, 

Germany; Walter Reed; Madigan 

General Hospital in Tacoma, Washington; Letterman General Hospital in San 

Francisco; and Tripler General Hospital in Hawaii. In 1953, Hughes served 

as the vascular surgery consultant to 

the 8th U.S. Army, and as a member 

of the Surgical Research Team of the 

U.S. Army in Korea. His experiences 

there led to numerous publications and 

advancements and his standing as an 

expert in the management of vascular 

trauma on the battlefield. 

Hughes went on to become 

Commander of Tripler Army Medical 

Center (where he was dual-hatted as 

Chief Surgeon, U.S. Army Pacific), 

and later, Walter Reed Army Medical 

Center. After retiring from the military 

in 1974, Hughes worked as director of 

the Surgical Service, deputy assistant 

chief medical director for Professional 

Services, and assistant chief medical 

director for Professional Services at the 

Veterans Administration Central Office 

in Washington, D.C. 

He held academic appointments at a 

number of medical schools in the U.S. 

throughout his career, beginning as an 

Assistant Professor at the University 

of Tennessee School of Medicine in 

Memphis, followed by Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at both the 

University of Washington School of 

Medicine in Seattle and the George 

Washington University School of 

Medicine in Washington, D.C. Hughes 

joined the USU faculty in 1984 as a 

Clinical Professor of Surgery, later 

followed by an appointment as a Professor of Surgery. He retired from educating medical students, interactions he 

enjoyed thoroughly, in 1995 as a Distinguished Professor of Surgery. 

Hughes was actively involved in 

a number of professional medical 

organizations over the years, including his term as a member of the Board 

of Governors of the American College 

of Surgeons from 1975-1980, and as 

president of both the Society of Medical 

Consultants to the Armed Forces and 

the USU Surgical Associates. He served 

as a member of the Ex-Prisoner of War 

Advisory Committee for the VA from 

1989-1994, and as a member of the 

Association of Military Surgeons of the 

U.S. throughout his career.

He was a Diplomate of the American 

Board of Surgery, and a Fellow of the 

American College of Surgeons, American Surgical Association, Southern 

Surgical Association, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the 

Council on Cardiovascular Surgery of 

the American Heart Association. 

Hughes was highly decorated, 

having earned two Legions of Merit, 

a Bronze Star Medal, United Nations 

Service Medal, Distinguished Service 

Medal, World War II Medal, and 

two Army Commendation Medals, 

among many others. In 1958, he 

was presented with the Sir Henry 

Wellcome Award for the most useful 

original investigation in the field of 

Military Medicine, and the following year with the Commander of the 

Most Noble Order of the Crown of 

Thailand. 

“General Hughes was a true pioneer 

in managing injured arteries and 

veins by surgical repair,” said Norman 

M. Rich, M.D., emeritus chair and 

namesake of USU’s Norman M. Rich 

Department of Surgery. “I had the 

benefit of his mentor ship as an intern 

at Tripler, as a general surgery resident 

at Letterman and as a vascular fellow 

at Walter Reed General Hospitals. It 

was a pleasure and privilege to work 

with this respected officer, surgeon 

and gentleman.”

Carl Hughes, M.D.
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