2013 Report
v

The history of military medicine is that great advances are made during wartime 

that improve survival and quality of life not only for our troops but also for the 

civilian population as these advances in battlefield medicine and rehabilitation 

make their way into civilian medicine.

The 2013 terror attack on the Boston Marathon with its tragic results and 

extraordinary acts of heroism and valor are a dramatic example of these 

advances in military medicine helping those wounded at home. We expect that 

the enormous strides that have been made in rehabilitation, with prosthetics 

and with helping heal the less visible wounds of these horrendous attacks, will 

help those in Boston and elsewhere heal and return to full lives.

While changes in trauma care may be readily apparent, the fact is that 

advances in military medicine and the contributions of those who serve as 

clinicians and researchers continue to make profound impacts on health care 

for our nation and our world during times of war and times of peace.

These lessons of war are hard won and we are mindful of both the cost and the 

obligation that comes with them. We have an ongoing obligation to those who 

have served—to help them and their families return to their lives. We have an 

obligation to continue to research, develop and improve our interventions—be 

they medical or surgical or psychological—to heal, protect and prevent injury.

The missions of the uniformed services and of their health professions are by 

no means limited to armed conflict. The Department of Defense and the Public 

Health Service are the nation’s first line defense against global disease and in 

promoting both health and well-being worldwide. Graduates and faculty of USU 

work as clinicians and scientists in laboratories and clinics around the world 

and care for not only our service members but also civilian populations.

We live in an era of global travel when emerging diseases and infections can 

become global epidemics in record-breaking times. The Military Health System, 

frequently led by USU alumni such as Army Colonel (Dr.) Peter Weina, deputy 

director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, is guiding efforts to 

identify new viruses and prevent global outbreaks. Laboratory research to 

discover new treatments and preventive measures for infectious disease 

Message from the President
is under way in several USU departments, including Microbiology and 

Immunology, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health’s National 

Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

When I arrived at USU in 2005, I was challenged by then Under Secretary of 

Defense for Personnel and Readiness Dr. David Chu to transform USU from 

a “medical school with some additional programs,” as I recall he phrased it, 

into a true academic health center. I believe that my colleagues and I have 

been successful at doing just that. Even more importantly, I believe that 

we have educated and trained a cohort of leaders in academic and military 

health care who represent the core of leadership for the Department of 

Defense and the U.S. Public Health Service. They are serving and will serve 

this nation going forward. This is the critical legacy of USU.

These are the missions of the Uniformed Services University of the Health 

Sciences. We conduct research to improve protection against infectious 

disease and to improve global surveillance of emerging diseases. We work to 

develop the policies and practices necessary to guide Military Health System 

decisions. And most importantly, we educate the next generation of leaders 

in military and public health medicine, for this is truly the central role of the 

University. Like the military academies, we are charged with ensuring the 

building of that essential central cadre of leaders in military medicine.

In this annual report we have highlighted some of the people and work 

that exemplify USU and its importance to the nation.

Charles L. Rice, M.D.

President

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 

(USU) educates and trains the leaders of military medicine 

and public health. USU students are primarily active-duty 

uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. 

Public Health Service (USPHS) who receive specialized 

education in acute trauma care, disaster response and 

humanitarian assistance, infectious disease, neuroscience, 

and preventive medicine.

USU’s teaching, research and clinical programs are closely 

integrated with those at the Walter Reed National Military 

Medical Center. Across the street from the medical center 

is the main campus of the National Institutes of Health. The 

physical proximity of these three world-class institutions, 

each dedicated to excellence in teaching, patient care and 

research, creates a globally unique academic health center 

of extraordinary depth, breadth and impact. Individually 

and collectively, these three organizations are dedicated 

to advancing health and biomedical discovery to serve our 

nation and improve the health of the world. 

While the University’s main campus in Bethesda is ideally 

suited for scientific research and education in laboratory 

science, military medicine and nursing, and public health, 

this is but one of numerous campuses USU supports 

nationwide.

The education of USU’s students and the impact of our 

research is dramatically strengthened through the work of 

our partner institutions and campuses in the Military Health 

System (MHS) and USPHS. The national and global aspects 

of USU are another important facet of the University’s 

unique character that ties us to the Defense Department, 

the MHS and the USPHS.

Today, a large percentage of USU’s more than 5,000 

physician graduates, 660 advanced practice nurses and 

1,365 graduate program alumni support military and public 

health operations around the world through their clinical 

excellence, leadership and scientific expertise. This annual 

report speaks to important aspects of these individuals and 

this remarkable institution.

The University:

A World-Class Academic Health Center
The Uniformed Services University is the nation’s academic health center. 

Just as the U.S Military Academy-West Point, U.S. Naval Academy and 

U.S. Air Force Academy educate the leaders of the nation’s military, USU 

educates the leaders of the nation’s health corps who will work in the 

Military Health System and U.S. Public Health Service.

Our alumni serve around the globe and over the past 11 years have been 

deployed into combat with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We serve 

the equally important mission of helping to ensure the peace by guarding 

against the spread of infectious disease, helping prevent global epidemics, 

and providing relief in times of natural and man-made disaster.

These individuals serve at the forefront of research in global health, 

disease prevention and health promotion. Our alumni also develop policy 

and practice responsibilities to ensure our service men and service women 

benefit from USU’s research and education breakthroughs.

Our core mission is centered on leadership: educating physicians, 

advanced practice nurses, dentists and scientists who will serve the nation 

in careers in military medicine and public health. The best testament of 

USU’s success is its alumni. Here are some of their stories.

Serving Medicine and Our Nation

“We owe the men and women of our military the very best medical care 

in the world and that takes the very best trained medical staff in the 

world. I am proud to say that it all happens right here in Maryland and the 

Uniformed Services University is at the heart of such care. USU educates 

medical students, biomedical scientists and advanced practice nurses 

and awards advanced degrees in dentistry and its alumni staff military 

and public health facilities caring for our troops, their families as well as 

countless civilians.

“After more than a decade of sustained conflict overseas, it is no surprise 

that USU alumni often are deployed. They have been wounded and 

sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. They have learned firsthand the 

costs and rewards of ‘caring for those in harm’s way.’

“Prolonged conflict has changed the way we treat physical trauma and 

disease. USU alumni conduct important fundamental and applied research 

that has advanced care for military and civilian populations in areas such 

as infectious disease, radio protectants, traumatic injury and prosthetics 

as well as nerve and limb regeneration. How we face the hidden wounds 

of war also is changing, and USU alumni are leaders in posttraumatic 

stress research, focusing on treatment and prevention for our troops 

and their families.

“Whether they serve in combat field hospitals or stateside military hospitals 

or public health facilities, in clinics abroad or in the U.S., the USU alumni 

are serving our nation and I am proud of all they do.”

—Senator Ben Cardin

D-Maryland

USU Alumni Legacy
Applying Military Lessons to Civilian World

In 2013, Rear Admiral (Dr.) Michael Anderson, retired 

from his 34-year career with the U.S. Navy and 

Marine Corps, however, that did not mean the end of 

his medical career. A 1983 graduate from the School 

Medicine, the former medical officer of the Marine 

Corps became the senior vice president of quality and 

chief medical officer of the Harrison Medical Center 

in Bremerton, Wash., in July 2013.

During his military career, Anderson successfully 

advocated for a reformed relationship with the 

Department of Veterans Affairs that established a new 

type of joint health care delivery. He also established 

new clinical standards for garrison health care within 

the Navy’s operational forces. His expertise is already 

helping the Bremerton community, including the 

patients, physicians and staff of the medical center.

“When you go into a health care system, you look 

for opportunities to share common services and 

one of those common services is quality,” he told 

a Washington state newspaper. Though no longer 

serving in uniform, he says his mission now is the 

same as when he was a member of the military: 

“to deliver high-quality health care to our patients.” 

Photo by NASA

Mars Beckons to Alumnus

Army Major (Dr.) Andrew Morgan, upper left, a 2002 

graduate of USU’s F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, 

was among eight military and civilian astronaut 

candidates selected by NASA for its 2013 class. More 

than 6,100 applicants sought admittance in a selection 

process that took more than 18 months to complete.

Morgan, who previously served as an emergency 

physician and flight surgeon for the Army Special 

Operations community, finished a sports medicine 

fellowship before heading to the Johnson Space Center 

in Houston last August. He began an extensive course of 

technical training at space centers around the globe to 

prepare for missions in low-Earth orbit and to an asteroid 

and Mars.

“These new space explorers asked to join NASA because 

they know we’re doing big, bold things here—developing 

missions to go farther into space than ever before,” said 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Photo courtesy of 

Harrison Medical Center

Alumni
‘At the Cutting Edge of Battlefield Medicine’

 NATO photo by SSgt Ian Houlding, GBR Army

Alumnae Show Leadership Mettle 

University graduates find their focus on mission 

and medicine places them in leadership positions 

throughout the uniformed services.

Navy Lieutenant Commander (Dr.) Shannon Stout, 

a 2007 graduate, became the first woman in 

2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division history 

to earn a field grade officer billet. She is the 

battalion medical officer.

“It’s exciting to be the first female medical (field 

grade) officer with 2nd Tank Battalion, and I am 

honored to be holding the plank with some other 

outstanding female Marines and sailors that were 

also part of the women in combat integration,” 

Stout said.

She began her military medical journey while 

attending the University of North Carolina 

Wilmington in 2000. Stout was enrolled in a 

medical school preparatory class when she 

met a female Navy corpsman, who described 

opportunities available in Navy medicine. Her 

career consideration turned into commitment on 

Sept. 11, 2001. She was accepted by USU and 

now hopes to put her education and experience 

to work guiding female medical officers as they 

continue to join the ground combat element.

Stout looks forward to “being able to help mentor 

and guide them and help them understand 

just some of the things I’ve gone through, the 

growing pains, because I know where they are 

coming from their first months here being a Navy 

physician,” Stout said.

Across the Pacific, Air Force Colonel Virginia 

Garner, a USU Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School 

of Nursing alumna, assumed command of the 

15th Medical Group at Joint Base Pearl HarborHickham in June 2013.

“Taking care of our nation’s heroes, past, present, 

and future, and their families is why I joined the 

Air Force,” the 2000 family nurse practioner 

alumna said. “Now I have the unique opportunity 

to lead, partner with our sister services and the 

community, and care for the medics who will 

continue to fulfill this important mission.”

At Pearl Harbor-Hickham, Garner is responsible 

for providing medical and dental services for 

nearly 15,000 beneficiaries.

NATO Special Operations Headquarters opened its 

Special Operations Forces Allied Centre for Medical 

Education in October 2013. The Belgian facility, which 

provides technology to enhance military medical 

techniques and training, will allow medical personnel 

to learn concepts and practice procedures from the 

point of injury to casualty evacuation.

U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel (Dr.) Daniel Irizarry, 

photo left, a 1997 graduate of the School of Medicine, 

is medical adviser at NATO Special Operations 

Headquarters and serves as the center’s team lead.

The facility is “a much-needed addition to the support 

of Special Operations forces. Our cooperation with 

industry partners, military, government and nongovernment organizations, and academia ensures that we 

remain at the cutting edge of battlefield medicine,’’ 

Irizarry said at the center’s opening.
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Extraordinary Heroism

F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine 

graduate, Navy Lieutenant Commander (Dr.) 

Michael Melia, was participating in a regional 

emergency medical systems conference at 

the Washington Navy Yard on Sept. 16, 2013, 

just as a gunman started making his way 

through the base’s Building 197, shooting at 

Navy Yard employees.

Melia, an emergency physician and tactical 

medicine officer who was serving as the 

deputy medical director for the Bureau of 

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 

didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his limited 

tactical gear and medical trauma bag from 

his car and joined security officers as they 

searched for casualties.

With the gunman still active, Melia established a casualty 

collection point, and rejoined tactical teams as they swept the 

building, room by room.

He repeatedly entered and exited Building 197 as casualties 

were located, without hesitation or regard for his own 

personal safety, to render emergency medical assistance 

and to carry victims to a secured location where they could 

receive additional medical care, including one victim who had 

been shot in the neck numerous times. He continued assisting 

law enforcement officers until the “all clear” signal was given 

more than seven hours after the shooting had begun.

He demonstrated an extraordinary display of heroism in the 

face of extreme danger to provide direct medical care in a 

hostile environment.

A Portrait in Courage

When enemy forces launched 

a mortar attack on Firebase 

Chamkani, Afghanistan, in 

2011, Air Force Captain 

Jennifer Curtis was stepping 

out of the door to her room. 

She felt the force of the 

blast, while smoke and debris 

instantly surrounded her. But 

thanks to her USU education 

and training and her quick 

actions, the class of 2009 

alumna of USU’s Daniel K. 

Inouye Graduate School of 

Nursing helped save the 

lives of six soldiers who were 

wounded in the attack.

Curtis, a nurse practitioner working with U.S. 

Army Special Forces conducting village stability 

operations in the area, with help from a few of her 

colleagues, dragged the six injured men to safety 

while rounds continued to fly overhead. Curtis, 

the only health care provider present at the time, 

administered emergency medical care, keeping 

all six of the soldiers stable until they could be 

medevaced to a theater hospital. They all survived.

She received the Air Force Combat Action medal 

and the Bronze Star for her actions, and was 

featured in the Air Force “Portraits in Courage” 

series for her bravery.

By the Numbers

Physicians educated at F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine comprise:

of nurse anesthetists in the Military Health System

of medical leadership within the Military Health System

of total medical officer force

of new medical officer accessions

Alumni from the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing represent:

Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins University

Alumni
Award Winners Demonstrate Dedication to Art and Science of Medicine

Navy Commander (Dr.) Jennifer Espiritu was selected as 

the 2013 recipient of the American College of Preventive 

Medicine’s William Kane Rising Star Award. Espiritu, 

a USU School of Medicine class of 1998 alumna, is a 

Navy physician and Center for Disease Control Epidemic 

Intelligence Service officer.

Each year, the Military Health System’s “Building Stronger 

Female Physician Leaders in the MHS” award program 

selects up to six female physicians—one senior and 

five junior winners—from each service who have made 

significant contributions to military medicine and served as 

exemplary role models. In 2013, the senior winner of the 

fourth annual system’s award was Air Force Colonel (Dr.) 

Kimberly Slawinski, School of Medicine class of 1984. She 

is a vice commander assigned to the Air Force Medical 

Operations Agency in San Antonio.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Lisa Cole, a 2006 graduate of 

USU’s Graduate School of Nursing, was named by the Air 

Force Surgeon General as the 2013 recipient of the U.S. 

Air Force Clinical Excellence in Nursing Award, Field Grade 

Officer Category.

Navy Captain (Dr.) Maureen Padden, who graduated from 

the School of Medicine in 1992, received the Federal Health 

Care Executive Award for Excellence from the American 

Hospital Association in July 2013, for using her extensive 

experience as a family physician, teacher and executive to 

transform the way primary care is delivered in the U.S. Navy.

Photo by Joerg Mitter for Red Bull Content Pool

Out of This World

As retired Navy Captain (Dr.) Jonathan Clark and millions 

of people worldwide watched, Austrian skydiver Felix 

Baumgartner jumped more than 24 miles from the edge 

of space to Earth, becoming the first person to break the 

speed of sound without a vehicle. But Clark, a graduate 

of USU’s Charter Class of 1980, a member of the Baylor 

College of Medicine faculty and former flight surgeon, had 

a deeper interest in the project than most.

Clark was responsible for Baumgartner’s health— 

physical, mental and neurological—as the medical 

director for the Red Bull Stratos Team mission. A 

neurologist and six-time Space Shuttle crew surgeon for 

more than eight years at NASA, Clark took on the role to 

not only monitor and protect Baumgartner from the effects 

of extreme high altitude, but to try to establish new 

protocols for the benefit of future aviators and astronauts. 
Alumnus Serves as Founding Chair of New University Department

A gifted alumnus, clinician, researcher 

and educator took on new responsibilities 

at USU, leading the newly established 

Department of Physical Medicine and 

Rehabilitation (PM&R). Retired Army 

Colonel (Dr.) Paul Pasquina, a USU School 

of Medicine class of 1991 graduate, 

is tailoring the department to meet the 

specific needs of the military population, 

both in education and research. (He is 

pictured with Army Major General (Dr.) 

Nadja West, Joint Staff Surgeon.)

Pasquina spent a number of years leading 

the PM&R and later, orthopaedics and 

rehabilitation departments, at Walter Reed 

Army Medical Center and Walter Reed 

National Military Medical Center prior to 

his retirement from active duty last year. 

His significant contributions to amputee 

care made Walter Reed the first institution 

in the world to introduce the clinical use 

and evaluation of the first motorized 

lower limb prostheses, most sophisticated 

upper limb prostheses, and the first-ofits-kind implantable microelectrodes to 

drive a prosthetic device. As one of the 

nation’s leading experts in amputee care, 

prosthetics and rehabilitation, Pasquina 

was sought by his civilian colleagues 

in Massachusetts following the Boston 

Marathon bombing in April 2013 to 

discuss the best way forward for the 

treatment of many of the bombing victims. 

Combining his exceptional skills as 

a clinician, teacher and researcher, 

Pasquina is bringing that knowledge 

and expertise back to the University that 

educated him to help educate the next 

generation of health care providers as 

they “learn to care for those in harm’s 

way”—whether that is on the battlefield 

or in the streets of a major city. 

Future Alumnus Offers Helping Hand

Army Major (Dr.) Christopher Bowen, a secondyear student at USU’s Postgraduate Dental College, 

traveled to Vietnam in September 2013 to participate 

in a cooperative health engagement in Thanh Hoa 

Province.

The bilateral Army-to-Army mission focused on 

building medical and dental inter-operability between 

the U.S. and Vietnam, strengthening partnerships, 

and providing humanitarian assistance to the 

underserved people of Vietnam. Bowen and his 

colleagues worked in cooperation with East Meets 

West Dental and seven dentists from the Vietnamese 

Army and local provinces. Through solid teamwork 

and cooperation, they treated 390 patients in two 

and one-half days.

During this mission, Bowen presented a brief on 

“Dentistry in a Deployed Environment” at a Subject 

Matter Expert Exchange. Throughout the engagement, 

U.S. and Vietnam colleagues worked together to 

make the mission a success. 

Alumni
Education

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is committed to 

excellence in military medicine and public health during peacetime or war.

The University educates health professionals dedicated to career service 

in the Department of Defense and U.S. Public Health Service and with 

scientists who serve the common good. USU is accredited by the Middle 

States Commission on Higher Education, and its component professional 

programs by the appropriate professional organizations and societies.

At USU’s F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Daniel K. Inouye Graduate 

School of Nursing, Postgraduate Dental College and Armed Forces 

Radiobiology Research Institute, USU students learn the art and science 

of healing along with the leadership skills critical to their roles in military 

and public service. Students attending the University and affiliated military 

training facilities and other health facilities around the nation receive 

extensive clinical training with patients, experience the rigors and rewards 

of practice in varied settings, and master the fundamentals of biomedical 

science, clinical medicine and leadership.

This education serves graduates well when they begin to serve their 

country with military units and in Public Health Service laboratories and 

clinics. The experience they gain at USU will remain with them for years 

as they serve and provide the essential leadership for the uniformed 

services and our nation. USU alumni are among the most dedicated and 

accomplished in the world.

One-of-a-kind Institution

“I am so proud to have the Uniformed Services University in the great state 

of Maryland. USU is a one of-a-kind institution. It trains the next generation 

of military medical personnel. It brings cutting-edge research to the front 

lines, keeping our armed forces safe so they can keep our country secure. 

From helping to relieve the effects of posttraumatic stress to finding cures 

for infectious diseases, the wonderful work of USU is not only seen in our 

military—but throughout the world. 

“As Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I know that my 

predecessor, Senator Inouye, would be honored to see his name above 

USU’s esteemed Graduate School of Nursing. Throughout his long record of 

public service, he was a champion for nursing and accessible, quality care. 

Together, we fought for USU as a jewel in our military, and a standardbearer for military medicine throughout the world.

“With USU, Maryland is the only state that has a private, public and federal 

academic health center. I’m proud that USU is part of that equation, as we 

work to foster education, innovation and exploration in Maryland. Each day, 

the men and women of USU accomplish incredible feats. As we look back 

on lessons learned in the last decade, I know that USU will accomplish so 

much more—bringing health, peace and prosperity to people the world over.”

— Senator Barbara Mikulski

D-Maryland
‘America’s Medical School’

In the fall of 2013, President Rice named Dr. Arthur L. 

Kellermann the fifth dean of USU’s F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine. Kellermann is one of the nation’s 

leading experts in emergency medicine, public health 

and health policy.

Kellermann’s distinguished career is anchored in academic 

medicine and public health. Prior to joining USU, he held 

the Paul O’Neill-Alcoa Chair in Policy Analysis at RAND, a 

non-profit research organization. He was a professor and 

founding chair of emergency medicine and public health 

and associate dean for health policy at the Emory School 

of Medicine in Atlanta where he also established the Center 

for Injury Control in Emory’s School of Public Health. 

A former two-term member of the board of directors of 

the American College of Emergency Physicians, Kellermann 

was subsequently given the College’s highest award for 

leadership. He also holds “excellence in science” awards 

from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and 

the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section 

of the American Public Health Association. Elected to the 

Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies 

in 1999, he co-chaired the IOM Committee on the 

Consequences of Uninsurance and served on several 

other IOM committees. He currently serves on the IOM’s 

Governing Council.

A clinician and researcher, Kellermann practiced and 

taught emergency medicine for more than 25 years in 

public teaching hospitals in Seattle, Wash.; Memphis, 

Tenn.; and Atlanta, Ga. His research addresses a wide 

range of issues, including health policy and information 

technology, injury prevention, traumatic brain injury 

prevention and treatment, emergency care, and disaster 

preparedness.

In recruiting a new dean for the University’s School of 

Medicine, President Rice noted that this appointment 

came at a critically important time for the University 

saying, “The new dean has taken up his role at a 

challenging time as military medicine enters into a new 

period of dealing with collecting, organizing and exporting 

the knowledge and advances of the past decade-long 

wars. The School of Medicine has been deeply engaged 

in curriculum reform and the new dean will continue and 

enhance these important efforts.

“Dean Kellermann brings to the School and this University 

a keen and deep understanding of public health, academic 

medicine and the ways 

in which institutions and 

government collaborate 

for the public good. His 

commitment to the highest 

standards of academic, 

professional and scholarly 

achievement will continue 

USU’s progress as an 

institution critical to this 

nation’s well being and 

security.”

Kellermann is equally 

enthusiastic about the 

opportunity to lead the 

School of Medicine, which 

he regularly asserts is 

“America’s medical school.” 

“We have a unique mission, an exceptional faculty and a 

vital mission. Our students come from across the United 

States, and they serve around the world. We serve as 

the leadership academy for the Military Health System 

as well as the U.S. Public Health Service. While we teach 

essentially the same core curriculum as civilian medical 

schools, we also cover military-relevant topics such as 

tropical disease and public health, battlefield injury, 

global health, logistics, and humanitarian assistance. 

Moreover, our students are trained to be leaders who 

know how to work collaboratively in teams and to reach 

across disciplines. Our newly reengineered curriculum 

addresses such 21st century topics as cultural sensitivity, 

international law and medical ethics.

“Unlike civilian medical schools, our mission is focused 

on tackling the most important challenges faced by the 

Department of Defense and the U.S. Public Health Service. 

These two critical federal agencies shape our research 

agenda in fundamental ways, and drive us to find solutions.

“And finally, whereas most civilian medical schools are 

affiliated with civilian teaching hospitals, USU’s medical 

school shares its Bethesda campus with Walter Reed 

National Military Medical Center, a world-class tertiary care 

center. Across the street is the National Institutes of Health, 

the world’s premier biomedical research facility. And 

our national network of ‘teaching hospitals’ includes the 

Military Health Systems’ premier facilities, from Portsmouth 

to Honolulu. There’s simply no other institution like it.” 

F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine
Curriculum Reform Takes Root

To stay at the forefront of American medical education, 

the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine reengineered 

its curriculum to address the challenges and needs of 

military medicine in the 21st century. The new curriculum, 

which began formal implementation in the fall of 2011, 

is organized around the theme of “Molecules to Military 

Medicine.” It incorporates four conceptual pillars: The 

integration of basic and clinical sciences across all four 

years, early patient contact, 

adaptability to unique 

learning styles, and the use 

of advanced educational 

technologies.

Instead of the traditional 

“2 plus 2” approach of 

loading the first two years 

of medical school with 

department-centered 

basic science classes and 

the last two years with 

clinical rotations, the new 

curriculum is divided into 

three major segments: an 

18-month pre-clerkship, 

12 months of core clerkships and an 18-month postclerkship period, all of which incorporate specialized 

instruction and training related to the unique aspects of 

military and public health medicine. The new curriculum 

includes more time for senior electives along with an 

opportunity for students to complete a Capstone Project—

an extended period of advanced clinical, military and 

public health-relevant, or bench-related research.

USU’s approach represents a dramatic departure from 

the traditional, discipline-centered curriculum used 

by most medical schools for a century, in favor of an 

integrated, organ-system based approach, that places 

key concepts of medical science in a clinical context. 

Under the new curriculum, incoming students now form 

their professional identity much earlier, as they begin 

learning about patient care and clinical interactions on 

the second day of medical school. At the same time 

they are learning important scientific concepts, they are 

acquiring skills needed to conduct a complete history and 

physical examination and interpret important laboratory 

and clinical tests. All of this work is supplemented by 

individualized instruction and practice with real and 

simulated patients.

USU’s class of 2015 will be the first to graduate under 

the new curriculum. They completed their all-important 

clerkship year with rotations in military treatment facilities 

across the country. They are now integrating their clinical 

learning with additional exposure to basic science topics 

at the start of their post-clerkship period. The goal of this 

sequence is to produce physicians who understand the 

“why” of medicine as well as the “what” and the “how.”

Development of the new curriculum has required an “All 

of School” effort. Everyone pitched in. However, three 

individuals in particular stand out. Alison O’Brien, Ph.D, 

professor and chair of Microbiology and Immunology and 

Louis Pangaro, M.D., professor and chair, Department of 

Medicine, worked closely together to weave the basic and 

clinical sciences together. 

O’Brien brought her extensive expertise in basic science 

research and education to the process of designing the 

new curriculum. Pangaro, a national authority in medical 

education, helped shape the forward-looking approach to 

reform and to adapt the School of Medicine curriculum to 

USU’s unique mission in the military health care system. 

Air Force Colonel (Dr.) Arnyce Pock, associate professor of 

medicine and director of the School’s Office of Curriculum 

Reform, ably assisted the pair. 

Working together, these three and USU’s faculty produced 

an integrated curriculum that incorporates state-of-theart educational methods, instructional technology, clinical 

simulation, real-world experience and scientific inquiry to 

ensure that the uniformed services will receive graduates 

who are ready to care for those who go in harm’s way.
Graduate Education Key Element of Mission

Medical students are one component of the F. Edward Hébert School 

of Medicine; graduate education in science, psychology and public 

health is the other. USU medical students are members of the uniformed 

services: Army, Navy, Air Force or U.S. Public Health Service. Each year 

somewhat fewer than half of incoming students are “prior service,” 

having served in the military, ROTC or attended one of the service 

academies. Others enter the University from the civilian world with no 

prior uniformed service.

The graduate programs in USU’s school of medicine are open to 

civilian and military applicants. The graduate programs are committed 

to excellence in the didactic and research education of master’s and 

doctoral degree students.

Graduate education is an important and integral component of the 

academic mission and scholarly environment of USU. The University’s 

graduate students leave USU prepared for productive and high-impact 

careers in many areas of practice and research in the biomedical 

sciences, clinical psychology and public health.

These graduates serve the nation in public service, create new scientific 

knowledge, train the next generation of scientists, and contribute to the 

advancement of health and science in both public and private positions.

Alumnae Work to Ensure Students’ Success

The F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine offers 

both military and academic 

support services for its 

students to ensure a 

successful medical school 

experience. As alumnae 

and as leaders of those 

functions, Army Lieutenant 

Colonel (Dr.) Brigilda Teneza, 

Navy Captain (Dr.) Patricia 

McKay, and Army Colonel (Dr.) Lisa Moores each have a 

unique perspective that contributes to that success. 

Moores, a class of 1989 graduate, is a critical care 

pulmonologist who has been a member of the school’s 

faculty since 1996. She served as associate dean for 

clinical sciences for more than six years before her 

appointment as acting associate dean for student affairs, 

where she supervises the quality of student academic 

and campus life and represents the student viewpoint 

whenever policy is made or needed.

McKay replaced Moores in the clinical sciences dean 

role after serving as the commandant and interim surgery 

department chair. The class of 1993 alumna’s experience 

as an associate professor of surgery at USU and director 

of the hand surgery center at Kimbrough Ambulatory 

Care Center at Fort Meade, Md., and her many years 

as a Navy surgeon made her uniquely suited for the 

job working with the medical student curriculum and 

educational programs in the clinical years, the academic 

performance of students, and the subsequent graduate 

medical education of students.

Although Teneza is the newest addition to the team as 

commandant of medical students, she is no stranger 

to the University. She earned her medical degree as a 

member of the class of 1997 and later returned for her 

master’s degree in public health in 2009 as part of a 

preventive medicine residency. Teneza has held a faculty 

appointment in the department of Preventive Medicine 

and Biometrics for more than four years. The pediatricianturned-public health physician oversees the day-to-day 

military requirements of the medical students.

Degrees Offered by 

School of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. degrees in:

• Emerging Infectious Diseases

• Molecular and Cell Biology

• Neuroscience

Doctoral degrees in:

• Clinical Psychology

• Medical Psychology

• Environmental Health Sciences

• Medical Zoology

• Public Health

Master’s degrees in: 

• Public Health

• Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

• Health Administration and Policy

• Military Medical History

F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine
Research Focus

All degree candidates at the Postgraduate Dental College engage in 

research projects. Recent examples of the diverse research into 

biomedical materials includes:

• Surface Detail Accuracy and 

Dimensional Stability of a New 

Hybrid Vinyl Polyether Siloxane 

Impression Material Under Dry 

and Moist Conditions

• Abrasive Wear of Four Direct 

Restorative Materials by 

Standard and Whitening 

Dentifrices

• Dentin Bond Strength of Resin 

Cements Using Simplified 

Adhesive Agents.

One of USU’s newest 

programs, based in San 

Antonio, is its Postgraduate 

Dental College. The Executive 

Dean, retired Army Major 

General (Dr.) Patrick Sculley, 

formerly served as deputy 

surgeon general, chief of 

staff of the Army Medical 

Command, and chief of the 

Army General Corps. He 

is a graduate of Webster 

University and the State 

University of New York at 

Buffalo, and is board certified 

in comprehensive dentistry 

and a certified health care 

executive. Sculley is also 

dual-hatted as USU’s Senior 

Vice President of University Programs, overseeing the 

University’s interests in the southern region. 

The Postgraduate Dental College comprises the Army Postgraduate Dental School, with sites in Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort 

Gordon, Ga., Fort Hood, Texas, and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; 

the Naval Postgraduate Dental School, located at the Walter 

Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.; and 

the Air Force Postgraduate Dental School, with two locations 

based at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and Lackland Air 

Force Base, Texas.

Each school grants a Master of Science in Oral Biology degree 

after the completion of a graduate dental residency program. 

All students matriculated into the program have obtained 

a Doctor of Dental Surgery or a Doctor of Dental Medicine 

degree. A total of 72 military dentists have graduated from 

the Postgraduate Dental College to date. In 2013, 43 master’s 

graduates across seven dental disciplines received degrees.

The college is research intensive and reflects not only USU’s 

increasingly interdisciplinary approach to health care, but also 

the Military Health System’s recognition of the importance 

of health promotion and disease prevention through 

comprehensive education and research.

“All of USU’s dental programs are extremely challenging with 

strong didactic, clinical and research components woven into 

the curriculum,” said Sculley. “Meeting these benchmarks is 

difficult, but USU’s newest alumni achieve this feat through 

hard work and dedication. It’s a big accomplishment for them, 

but an even greater benefit for military medicine as a whole, 

since America’s warriors and their families benefit from USU’s 

graduate education programs.”

In Service to Humankind

As part of the military-unique curriculum, the 

residents and staff of the two-year Advanced 

Education in General Dentistry residency program 

at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas—part of the 

University’s Postgraduate Dental College—are 

involved in humanitarian missions. 

The missions, called Medical Readiness Training 

Exercises, deliver medical and dental care to 

underserved populations around the world while 

providing unique training to medical and dental 

providers. The missions often take place in remote 

areas of these countries in harsh working conditions, 

typically without electricity or running water.

The residents and staff of the college’s residency 

program joined medical providers for two-week 

missions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 

2013. During one mission, the six-member dental 

team (three dental officers and three enlisted 

technicians) completed more than 1,100 dental 

procedures on more than 800 dental patients at 

three sites. The dental team served with other 

medical providers (e.g., family practitioners, 

dermatologists, optometrists, pharmacists) 

who provided medical exams, eyeglasses, 

medications and minor surgical procedures 

to more than 8,000 residents.

Postgraduate Dental College

Degrees Offered by 

Postgraduate Dental 

College

Master of Science in 

Oral Biology Programs:

• Comprehensive Dentistry

• Endodontics

• Oral and Maxillofacial 

Pathology

• Orofacial Pain

• Periodontics

• Prosthodontics
Honoring Daniel K. Inouye 

The University honored Senator Daniel K. Inouye 

(D-Hawaii)—the second longest-serving senator at the 

time of his death in 2012—by naming the Graduate 

School of Nursing after the iconic World War II hero during 

a ceremony in October 2013. The event lauded Inouye’s 

steadfast commitment to military medicine and USU.

Throughout his 53-year political career, Inouye supported 

and authored key legislation to improve military medicine 

by establishing USU in 1972, and later championing a bill 

for a graduate nursing program in 1992.

Although Inouye built much of his political career around 

military advocacy, his veneration for uniformed nurses and 

physicians was born long before he took office.

As a soldier in the famed 442nd Regimental Combat 

Team, Inouye stood out. A courageous leader, Inouye 

quickly rose through the Army’s ranks, but his military 

career was interrupted after he was injured in Italy. 

Although Inouye’s wounds were dire and his right arm had 

to be amputated, military doctors and nurses saved his 

life and gave him a new perspective.

“The care my father got on the heat of the battlefield 

and at hospitals back home was incredible,” said Inouye’s 

son, Ken. “He spoke about it a lot when I was younger, 

and it left a huge impression on me, because the 

underlying theme of my father’s stories was always the 

debt he felt to his providers, and how they not only saved 

his life, but helped get him in the right frame of mind to 

move past his injuries.”

Inouye paid his gratitude forward on Capitol Hill. He 

was one of USU’s most important proponents over the 

past four decades, and he also introduced legislation 

that established USU’s Graduate School of Nursing, 

saying, “The federal government should establish its own 

nursing school similar to that currently in existence for 

physicians.” That legislation resulted in the creation of 

USU’s Graduate School of Nursing.

In 2013, the Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) celebrated 

its 20th anniversary and the school was named in honor 

of one of its staunchest and most beloved allies, the late 

Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The Daniel K. Inouye Graduate 

School of Nursing melds a traditional health sciences 

curriculum with military training and leadership skills so 

its graduates are ready to practice their unique brand of 

health care anywhere in the world. The school has grown 

into a powerful research school with interactive programs 

with the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine and has 

awarded 663 degrees since its founding.

The school provides students with the advanced skills 

needed to become leaders in their field. Uniformed nurses 

are the cornerstones of the Military Health System, 

carrying out a charge that reaches far beyond traditional 

nursing roles and exceeding the usual competencies.

Uniformed nurses care for patients in locations as 

dangerous as the wounds they treat. Armed with unique 

skills, graduates of the school are capable of making lifeand-death decisions in seconds for one or for thousands 

on the battlefield.

In 1992, the University developed its nursing school to 

meet the increasing needs for advanced practice nurses 

in the uniformed services. Experienced military and 

civilian faculty members used a signature curriculum 

of the fundamentals of advanced nursing in the 

military context.

Whether a student chooses to follow a master’s degree 

or doctorate degree path, they share the common goal 

of advancing professional nursing practice for service 

members, their families and other beneficiaries.

Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing
Dean Hinshaw: A ‘Living Legend’

Ada Sue Hinshaw, Ph.D., dean of USU’s Daniel K. Inouye 

Graduate School of Nursing, has announced her upcoming 

retirement in May 2014 following graduation of the 2014 

class. For more than six years, Hinshaw has served 

as dean, overseeing a period of growth and enormous 

progress for the school.

Among her many accomplishments, Hinshaw developed 

a close working relationship with the chiefs of the Nurse 

Corps of the military services, which was exemplified by 

their decision to include the dean of the GSN as a regular 

member of the Federal Nursing Service Chiefs. She 

greatly strengthened the academic rigor of the Advanced 

Practice Nursing programs and skillfully managed the 

transition of those programs from the Master’s degree to 

the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.

Hinshaw also recruited key faculty members to strengthen 

research programs, developed a partnership with the 

Department of Veterans Affairs in patient safety, and 

oversaw the successful reaccreditation of a number 

of GSN academic programs. She developed a highly 

successful model of shared governance, initiated the 

Behavioral Health advanced practice nursing program 

and met the Air Force’s need for an accession program 

for CRNAs. Hinshaw is working closely with School of 

Medicine Dean Kellermann to develop an innovative 

inter-professional education program.

Best known for her contributions to nursing research and 

education as well as health policy, Hinshaw has held many 

leadership positions during her career. Before joining 

USU in 2008, she was dean/professor at the University of 

Michigan, School of Nursing (1994 to 2006). She was the 

first permanent director of the National Center for Nursing 

Research and the first director of the National Institute of 

Nursing Research (1987 to 1994).

Active in health policy, she was president of the American 

Academy of Nursing (1991 to 2001), and is a member of 

the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and on 

the Institute’s Governing Council. She co-chaired a study 

entitled Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work 

Environment for Nurses (2004), and served as Scholar-inResidence at the Institute (2006-2007). She chaired the 

Institute of Medicine committee that examined the safety 

of the federal childhood immunization schedule.

Throughout her career, Hinshaw has conducted nursing 

research focusing on quality of care, patient outcomes, 

measurement of such outcomes, and building positive 

work environments for nurses. She is the recipient of 

13 honorary doctoral degrees.

Hinshaw received a Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology from 

the University of Arizona, an M.S.N. from Yale University 

and a B.S. from the University of Kansas.

Hinshaw was named a “Living Legend” in a careercapping honor at the American Academy of Nursing’s 

38th Annual Meeting. She has been a leader in the 

Academy since her initial induction as a Fellow in 

1978 and was elected to serve as President in 2001.

Degrees Offered by 

Graduate School of Nursing

• Master of Science in Nursing 

• Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science

• Doctor of Nursing Practice
Part of Esteemed Group

Two AFRRI officers accomplished a challenging feat in 

2013 by passing both portions of the rigorous Certified 

Health Physicists Examination. As a result, Army Major 

Aaron Miaullis and Air Force Captain Brian Livingston 

(pictured at right) joined an esteemed group of health 

science professionals who have earned a certification 

in Comprehensive Health Physics from the American 

Board of Health Physicists.

Institute Benefits Humanity

USU’s Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI), created more 

than 50 years ago during the height 

of the cold war, remains relevant and 

important today in the face of threats of 

radiation contamination through accidental release or acts of terrorism.

Air Force Colonel (Dr.) Lester “Andy” 

Huff, a 1988 graduate of USU’s F. 

Edward Hébert School of Medicine, was 

assigned to the Institute in 2007 as 

head of the Military Medical Operations 

Department. Today, he leads AFRRI as 

its director, exploring closer ties with 

our basic science departments and 

developing the intellectual and resource 

infrastructure for a basic research 

program in radiobiology.

The Institute aims to develop effective countermeasures 

that serve as defensive military options as well as 

medical treatment and agents to deal with radiation 

accidents. AFRRI addresses the services’ requirements 

simultaneously from three perspectives: prevention of 

health hazards, assessment of biological damage, and 

treatment of injuries resulting from exposure to ionizing 

radiation alone or in combination with chemical or 

biological agents encountered on the battlefield.

The Medical Effects of Ionizing Radiation course provides 

postgraduate medical education to about 600 attendees 

annually. The 2.5-day course is offered worldwide about 

20 times per year. Geared toward health care providers, 

the course offers a basic understanding of ionizing 

radiation, the biological damage it causes, triage tools 

for assessing radiation injury, and treatment strategies 

to improve recovery and long-term survival. It provides 

militarily relevant continuing medical education credit.

The Institute’s research focuses on methods to prevent, 

assess and treat injuries resulting from the effects of 

ionizing radiation. Of particular interest are studies that 

explore countermeasure development, risk assessment 

and biodosimetry.

Among products that AFRRI has developed is Neupogen, 

a protein that stimulates the growth of white blood cells 

in the body, helping the body fight against infection.

The Institute also works collaboratively with government 

agencies, academic institutions and civilian laboratories 

in the United States and other countries to research the 

biological effects of ionizing radiation. In addition, AFRRI 

provides medical training and emergency response to 

manage incidents related to radiation exposure.

Humanity benefits from research in these areas. These 

developments are applicable to rescue operations 

involving, for example, terrorist actions or industrial 

nuclear accidents. The core competence in radiation 

biophysics and the technical database developed from 

AFRRI research are also applicable to astronauts exposed 

to space radiation.

Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
At the Forefront of Research

“Every time I talk with a wounded soldier, I ask about the care they’re getting 

at Walter Reed. They always give me a big thumbs-up. The reality is, the care 

is as good as it is because so many caregivers got their start at USU.

“The University plays a critical role in educating health professionals for 

the Military Health System (MHS) and U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). 

Its alumni play critical leadership roles in these organizations. 

“Underpinning the educational programs of the University and also critically 

important to the nation are the University’s research programs. USU 

researchers are at the forefront of research in areas such as infectious 

disease, traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress, regenerative 

medicine, public health remediation, family and child health, and 

environmental health. The University’s research agenda is driven by the 

missions and concerns of the MHS and USPHS, including worldwide health, 

health of our troops, infectious disease, and the role that health plays in 

world stability and sustaining peace. 

“I am particularly pleased by new initiatives between USU and the National 

Institutes of Health situated across the street from the University and the 

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It is gratifying and exciting to 

see new and important collaborations between federal entities engaged in 

the essential work of health care and biomedical research for this nation 

and our world.”

—Representative Chris Van Hollen

(D-Maryland)

While pursuing its commitment to world-class educational opportunities 

for tomorrow’s uniformed services medical leaders, the University also 

dedicates itself to groundbreaking military and public health research.

Its scientific interests span a vast array of topics in fundamental and 

applied research, from radiobiology and infectious disease to traumatic 

brain injury, suicide risk and human performance.

The University’s research efforts go hand-in-hand with its educational and 

clinical care focus. Faculty of the School of Medicine, Graduate School 

of Nursing, Postgraduate Dental College and Armed Forces Radiobiology 

Research Institute work with students to improve the world’s understanding 

of basic biomedical science, create innovative products and technologies, 

and develop the most effective clinical practices.

University researchers conduct scientific investigations to ensure military 

health and readiness and to benefit humankind. Its close proximity to 

world-class clinical and research facilities at the Walter Reed National 

Military Medical Center and National Institutes of Health produce 

collaborations that reach around the world. This strong and enduring 

partnership yields greater understanding of the importance of research to 

military and public health.

Research
A Vaccine for Hendra Virus

Over the past two decades, fear of the Hendra 

virus has become part of everyday life for 

the Australian horse community. The highly 

infectious agent emerged from flying foxes, 

the world’s largest bats, in the 1990s. It is 

transmitted from the bats to horses to humans. 

To date, Hendra virus has been found only in a 

few places in the world. Australia experienced 

an unprecedented number of 18 outbreaks 

across Queensland and New South Wales in 

2011, during which 22 horses died or were 

euthanized. The virus appeared in horses eight 

times in both 2012 and 2013.

Infectious Diseases: Intensive Work, Collaboration Key to Breakthroughs

Unlocking the ‘Chlamydia Paradox’

Chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted 

disease in the U.S., is on the rise. More than 

1.4 million cases of the disease were reported 

nationally in 2011, but the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention estimates that the actual 

number is probably double that since most people 

do not seek testing and go undiagnosed.

University scientists Anthony Maurelli, Ph.D., 

(pictured at left) and George Liechti, Ph.D., 

recently discovered the presence of a cell wall 

in the bacterium that had previously eluded 

scientists since they started searching for its 

existence 50 years ago. This discovery may hold 

the key to better understanding how to treat 

a disease that can cause sterility in men and 

women, pelvic inflammatory disease, and ectopic 

pregnancies and is also the leading cause of 

preventable blindness worldwide.

Their findings were reported in, “A new metabolic 

cell-wall labeling method reveals peptidoglycan 

in Chlamydia trachomatis,” in the Dec. 11, 2013 

online edition of the journal Nature.

Combating Devastating EHEC Infections

Consuming diets higher in fiber may increase the 

risk for certain Escherichia coli (EHEC) infections, 

according to a study published in the Proceedings 

of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.

University scientists demonstrated that mice 

fed high-fiber diets (HFD) had elevated levels of 

intestinal butyrate, which—although a beneficial 

gut metabolite—enhanced the gut bindingcapacity of Shiga toxin made by a food-borne 

bacterium called EHEC O157:H7. Alison O’Brien, 

Ph.D., chair of the Department of Microbiology 

and Immunology, led the study, which was funded 

by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious 

Diseases.

But thanks to a scientific discovery originating from 

the lab of USU’s Christopher Broder, Ph.D., professor 

of Microbiology and Immunology, a Hendra vaccine has 

been developed for horses and clinical trials will begin 

in 2014 in Australia in people, using an anti-Hendra and 

anti-Nipah virus monoclonal antibody that Broder and 

his scientific collaborators developed. The antibody has 

already been credited with saving lives, having been 

successfully administered under compassionate use 

protocols in Australia in 2010 and 2012, and recently 

in the United States in 2013. To date, Broder’s vaccine 

for Nipah virus (the virus at the center of the fictional 

Hollywood film “Contagion”) is the only effective vaccine 

against a Class I bioterror agent.

Research
Global Health: Key USU Mission

Health promotion and disease prevention are top missions 

of the Military Health System and therefore an important 

educational and research mission of USU. Prevention and 

public health are not only important national strategies to 

preserve military strength and readiness, they are key to 

helping stabilize other nations worldwide. This mission is 

of necessity global as our graduates care for those who 

travel from nation to nation, often in harsh and underserved 

environments. Our graduates must be able to diagnose 

and treat the widest variety of diseases and syndromes 

and understand local cultures. As the Defense Department 

moves to the critical mission of sustaining the peace, it is 

equally important to help nations develop their own abilities 

to provide health care and build public health capacities.

Among the many USU departments and faculty members 

engaged in these missions are faculty members in the 

medical school’s Preventive Medicine Department Global 

Health Division. They use holistic teaching approaches, 

where factors like culture, economics, religion, politics, 

demographics and social influences are carefully weighed.

“Global health is complicated,” said Dr. Stephen Waller, an 

associate professor in the Global Health Division. “There 

is no formula to follow, just basic principles that improve 

community health through multidisciplinary action.”

This includes breaking cycles of behavior in areas where 

unsanitary or dangerous health conditions exist. It also 

means fostering policies and actions that favor lasting 

solutions over transitory remedies.

“The first time I really started thinking about global health 

was during a humanitarian mission in Haiti. We set up 

our clinic in a local school,” said Air Force Colonel (Dr.) 

Edwin Burkett, (pictured right) director of the Global Health 

Division. “The clinic was an open-bay facility with minimal 

staff or supplies. Flies buzzed around patients with open 

wounds, and it was generally unclean. 

I realized quickly our team was in the 

wrong spot.”

If his clinic had been tied to local facilities, 

Burkett’s team could have shared their 

knowledge and resources with local health 

care providers. This would have made their 

work in Haiti more impactful and sustainable, 

he said.

Drawing from this lesson and others, Burkett 

and Waller encourage their students to plan 

for the best long-term possible outcomes 

when developing global health plans. They also 

share their expertise with other leaders in the Consortium 

of Universities for Global Health. USU was recently 

inducted into the group’s prestigious network, which is 

an international organization dedicated to ending health 

inequalities around the world.

The Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance 

Medicine (CDHAM) is another of the University’s programs 

actively involved in global health engagement.

Until recently, U.S. national security operated from two 

mostly independent pillars: diplomacy and force projection. 

Today, national security is based on the “three D’s” of 

diplomacy, defense and development.

For its part, the center operates under the premise that 

health is “a global common good.”

“Along with safety, education and other public health 

benefits, people expect their government to help provide 

health care,” said Charles Beadling, M.D., director of 

CDHAM. “By assisting legitimate governments to build 

capability and capacity in health, the United States can 

create political stability that leads to our security.”

Promoting Healthy Living

In a 2013 article published in Obesity, Marian TanofskyKraff, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of 

Medical and Clinical Psychology at USU, shared updates 

from a collaborative study on obesity prevention.

To combat the military’s obesity problem, Tanofsky-Kraff, 

along with Tracy Sbrocco, Ph.D., an associate professor 

in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, and 

Navy Captain (Dr.) Mark Stephens, chair of the Department 

of Family Medicine, is exploring ways to promote healthy 

living through a pilot study focused on good behavior 

habits and reducing stress. 

“At the time we initiated this review, there was really 

no solid compilation of the research on obesity or eating 

disorders in services. We know how hard it is to treat 

obesity. We need prevention. We need to stop it before 

it happens,” said Tanofsky-Kraff.
GSN Faculty Contribute to Knowledge Through Research

As the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing has 

matured during the past 20 years, so too has the research 

focus of its faculty. Faculty research clusters around four 

broad areas: traumatic injury recovery, deployment issues 

and military family health, psychological health promotion, 

and military health systems. Some highlights of recent 

research include:

• Marguerite Littleton-Kearney, Ph.D., R.N., 

is investigating the effects of oral hormone 

replacement therapy on cerebral vessels 

after injury.

• Matthew D’Angelo, DNP, CRNA, is undertaking 

a pilot study that uses a mathematical 

model on subjects with intravascular volume 

abnormalities to predict blood volume loss 

and to guide intraoperative fluid therapy.

• An evaluation of Behavioral Risk Factor 

Surveillance System’s survey measures 

and methodology is the focus of work by 

Sandra Bibb, DNSc, R.N., (pictured at left). 

She is investigating the concept that the 

surveillance system may be a potential 

“index model” for total force fitness.

• In a single-subject design, Susan Budassi Sheehy, 

Ph.D., R.N., is looking into a nurse-coached exercise 

program to determine if it increases muscle strength, 

improves quality of life and increases self-efficacy in 

people with tetraplegic spinal cord injuries.

• Using a posttraumatic stress disorder checklist and 

recorded semi-structured interview, Susanne W. 

Gibbons, Ph.D., is examining combat health care 

providers and resiliency. Her work centers on adaptive 

coping mechanisms during and after deployment.

• Preliminary results of a study by Army Colonel Paul 

Lewis, Ph.D., focuses on the effects of smoking on 

wound healing in a sample of military amputees. The 

work suggests that, on average, smoking lengthens 

healing time by 37 days, reduces the ability to cover 

distance on a two-minute walk test and increases 

rehabilitation time by 14 days.

• In a rat model of retained shrapnel using military-grade 

tungsten alloy containing cobalt, Christine E. Kasper, 

Ph.D., R.N., is raising the possibility that metal bodyburdens can affect blood-brain barrier permeability 

especially following a traumatic brain injury. 

Infectious Disease Program Links Government, Private Sector

The Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program is a 

unique research collaborative that represents one of the 

important roles USU plays in bringing together government 

agencies and the private sector to advance public health 

and ensure national security.

The program, formed in 2005 through an agreement 

between the National Institutes of Health’s Institute 

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and USU, 

recognizes the operational, strategic and scientific 

importance of infectious diseases to the U.S. military. Led 

by Army Colonel (Dr.) Mark Kortepeter, the program builds 

broad collaborations among DoD and NIAID investigators 

and develops affiliations with partners from academia and 

private industry.

All research within the program focuses on clinical 

questions associated with militarily important infectious 

disease risks. The diseases may affect training and 

readiness at the individual or unit level and nearly 

always have significant impact on the nonmilitary 

populations as well. 

According to Kortepeter, “one of the 

more notable achievements of the past 

year was the launch of the traveler’s 

diarrhea treatment trial among 

volunteers in the U.S. and United 

Kingdom military in Afghanistan, 

Djibouti and Kenya, in partnership 

with overseas laboratories in Cairo 

and Nairobi. We have also begun 

a partnership with the NIH/NIAID, 

National Institutes of Mental Health, 

and National Institute of Neurological 

Disorders and Stroke to study neurocognitive disease in 

HIV-infected individuals. Moreover, we have completed our 

initial study report on hygiene measures at Fort Benning, 

Ga., to reduce the incidence of skin and soft tissue 

infections. This last study was a massive two-year trial that 

enrolled more than 30,000 trainees. We have also begun 

enrolling patients in our multidrug-resistant gonococcal 

(GC) surveillance study and are in the process of setting 

up a GC research repository at USU.”

Research
CSTS Launches Military Family Members Bereavement Study

The University’s Center 

for the Study of Traumatic 

Stress (CSTS) has launched 

the National Military Family 

Bereavement Study, the first 

large scientific study of the 

impact of a U.S. service 

member’s death on surviving 

family members.

“Our study has two phases, 

both of which aim to 

understand and define the 

grief process in a multidimensional way,” said Dr. 

Stephen Cozza, associate 

director of the CSTS and 

study lead.

In phase one, participants complete an online questionnaire that covers a broad range of topics related to 

the loss experience. The center is also collecting saliva 

samples, so researchers can identify candidate genes that 

may contribute to resiliency or prolong and intensify grief.

In the second phase, two or more members of the same 

family are interviewed on three separate occasions over 

two years, either by phone or in person. This long-range 

data collection gives center experts a closer look at 

unique loss experiences over time.

“Is a mother’s grief different than a spouse’s grief? Does 

bereavement change if a service member’s death is 

combat-related, a suicide, homicide or accident?” Cozza 

said. “We hope our research will find answers to these 

questions and more.”

In less than four months, the center has recruited more 

than 700 participants and collected nearly 300 samples. 

The center plans to recruit thousands of new volunteers 

over the next two years.

“This is an opportunity for us to do good work and help 

people get through a difficult time,” Cozza said. “We 

hope our findings impact policy in meaningful ways, so 

survivors grieving the loss of a loved one get the support 

they need.”

To understand the importance of this study, center 

experts have put together touching video stories about 

several of the survivor families that are available at 

www.militarysurvivorstudy.org/survivor-stories.php.

Study Assesses Mental Health Resilience

The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in 

Servicemembers (STARRS) is the largest study of mental 

health risk and resilience ever conducted among military 

personnel. Investigators are using five separate study 

components to identify factors that help protect a 

soldier’s mental health and factors that put a soldier’s 

mental health at risk. According to Dr. Tom Insel, director 

of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), this 

project addresses one of the most pressing public health 

challenges facing the nation. The project itself has been 

characterized as “The Framingham Study of Suicide.” It is 

the largest study of mental health risk and resilience ever 

conducted among military personnel. 

The five-year study will continue through June 2014. It is 

being conducted by an interdisciplinary team of renowned 

experts led by Dr. Robert J. Ursano of USU and Dr. Murray 

Stein of the University of California, San Diego. The 

research team includes scientists and clinicians 

from University of Michigan, Harvard Medical School 

and the NIMH. 

Findings will be reported as they become available, 

so that the Army may apply them to its ongoing health 

promotion, risk reduction and suicide prevention efforts.

The length and scope of the study allows researchers to 

focus on periods in a military career that are known to 

be high risk for psychological problems. The information 

gathered from volunteer participants throughout the 

study will help researchers in identifying both potential 

risk factors and potential “protective” factors. Because 

promoting mental health and reducing suicide risk are 

important for all Americans, the findings from the Army 

study will benefit service members and the nation as 

a whole.
Center Enlists Multiple Disciplines to Unlock Mysteries of Brain Injury

USU’s Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative 

Medicine (CNRM), a collaborative intramural federal 

program involving the Department of Defense and 

National Institutes of Health, brings together expert 

clinicians and scientists from across multiple 

disciplines to catalyze innovative approaches to 

traumatic brain injury (TBI) research.

The center’s programs emphasize aspects of 

importance to the military populations, with a primary 

focus on patients at Walter Reed National Military 

Medical Center. The University is responsible for its 

operation and management.

Because of the impact of TBI among military 

populations, the center served as a catalyst 

for collaboration, innovation and advancement 

of knowledge of the incidence of TBI and the 

identification of interdisciplinary approaches to 

assess the injury and promote recovery. The center’s 

research programs address the full spectrum of TBI, 

with special focus on militarily relevant forms of 

injury such as blast, penetrating and repeat 

neurotrauma events, including the effect of 

high anxiety and concurrent development of 

posttraumatic stress disorder with brain injury.

Tissue Repository Opens

The world’s first brain tissue repository aimed at 

helping researchers understand the underlying 

mechanisms of TBI in service members opened at the 

center in 2013.

The repository will allow researchers to answer 

important questions about what happens to the brain 

after exposure to blasts and whether the different 

forms of brain injury experienced in the military 

lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The 

neurodegenerative disorder involves the progressive 

accumulation of tau protein in nerve cells within 

certain regions of the brain.

“Little is known about the long-term effects of 

traumatic brain injury on military service members,” 

said Dr. Daniel Perl, a neuropathologist with the center 

and director of the repository. “By studying these 

tissues, along with access to clinical information 

associated with them, we hope to more rapidly 

address the biologic mechanisms by which head 

trauma leads to chronic traumatic encephalopathy.”

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel 

Command provided a multi-year grant to establish

the repository.

Partnering to Understand Neurotrauma

Two professors affiliated with the center will 

participate in new multi-institutional consortia 

focused on translational and clinical research into 

posttraumatic stress disorder and the chronic effects 

of mild traumatic brain injury.

Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, M.D., Ph.D., professor of 

Neurology and director of Clinical Research at the 

CNRM, will participate in the consortia, along with 

Perl. Diaz-Arrastia’s research interests focus on 

understanding the molecular-, cellular- and tissuelevel mechanisms of secondary neuronal injury and 

neuroregeneration. He will provide access to critical 

military populations for studies of mild TBI and the 

many diseases associated with combat duty.

The five-year collaboration, a U.S. Army and 

Department of Veterans Affairs effort, comprises the 

Consortium to Alleviate Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 

and the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium. 

Both consortia are part of the national research action 

plan for improving access to mental health services for 

veterans, service members and their families.

Research
While in many ways a typical U.S. academic health center, USU has several 

unique aspects. These differences include our students—who tend to be a 

little older and more frequently married—perhaps because they can afford 

to make these commitments, as they do not have to go into debt to attend 

school and in fact receive a salary as active-duty officers while in school. 

The curriculum is also different in its emphasis on disease prevention and 

health promotion and in teaching students to practice in settings outside of 

hospitals, offices and clinics. 

The University also has a number of centers that bring together 

multidisciplinary teams to address issues with immediate relevancy to the 

Military Health System and the U.S. Public Health Service. The centers 

focus on global health, traumatic brain injury, treatment and prevention 

of posttraumatic stress, and advanced simulation training. The unique 

curriculum also includes field exercises that are critical in preparing 

medical students and advanced practice nurses to practice in potential 

deployed environments. Our students report a unique “esprit de corps” 

among their classmates; a recognition that they will be practicing together 

for some years ahead. They engage in deeply cooperative learning. The 

most important unique characteristic is its mission to develop the nation’s 

leadership corps for the future.

Recognizing Military Medicine

On Armed Forces Day in 2013, former Senator Robert Kerrey addressed the 

University’s graduating classes. Dr. Charles Rice, USU president, introduced 

him, recalling Kerrey’s service to the nation and the severe wounds Kerrey 

suffered during the Vietnam War. Despite his injuries from a grenade 

explosion, he continued to direct his team and caught the enemy in the 

crossfire. For his actions, Kerrey was awarded the Medal of Honor and the 

Purple Heart.

Kerrey spoke of the often-unrecognized role of those who provide health 

care in the military and recalled the occasion when Senator Daniel Inouye 

received his Congressional Medal of Honor. At that time, Inouye expressed 

the wish that one of these awards had been given to the person whose job 

it was to save lives. As Kerrey said, Inouye “wished one of the citations had 

told the story of the man whose name was called many times during the 

fighting: ‘Medic!’”

Kerrey gave the following advice to the graduating classes: “More often 

than not your efforts will keep us alive, will help us mend, will take away 

our pain. The problem is you may just be too busy or too tired to recognize 

the good you are doing. 

“My only reliable advice is this: Don’t get so tired that you don’t remember 

how fortunate we are that you have chosen this life. And on behalf of all 

your patients, who like me will be so anxious to get home that we didn’t 

say what we needed to say over and over and over again: Thank you, thank 

you, thank you.”

—Former Senator Robert Kerrey

Uniquely USU
The Murtha Cancer Center: A Collaborative Effort

The University joined in partnership with Walter Reed 

National Military Medical Center in 2013 to stand up the 

John P. Murtha Cancer Center of Excellence. The center, 

the only Cancer Center of Excellence within the Military 

Health System, offers its patients access to cutting-edge 

cancer diagnostic and treatment technologies. 

The center is a patient-centric, tri-service military health 

care facility. Its comprehensive core of military and 

civilian oncologists, clinicians and researchers provide 

multidisciplinary cancer-care delivery and patient-family 

support services. A strong focus on translational research 

facilitates optimal access to evidence-based clinical practices and access to high-priority clinical cancer trials.

As a founding member, USU provides an essential basic 

research component augmented by strong collaborations 

with the NIH’s National Cancer Institute and others. 

Center’s Book Becomes National Resource for Disaster and Disease

The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress published a 

new book, “Disaster, Disease and Distress: Resources to 

Promote Psychological Health and Resilience in Military 

and Civilian Communities” in 2013. The book, a compilation of fact sheets and educational resources developed 

over a 10-year period, addresses important health and 

mental health issues of service members and their families impacted by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The resources are geared toward communities around the 

globe affected by natural and human-made disasters such 

as hurricanes, earthquakes and incidents of violence.

Center experts in the fields of military and disaster 

psychiatry developed the fact sheets in the book, many in

the immediate aftermath of specific incidents, to educate 

military and civilian health care professionals; service 

members and families; government leaders at the federal, 

state and local level; and stakeholders in family and child 

trauma, workplace mental health, public health, human 

services and academia. The documents focus on planning 

for, responding to and recovering from traumatic events. 

Many of these fact sheets address health and mental 

health issues related to the risks of suicide.

The book features four sections: deployment health 

issues, family health, disaster preparedness and 

response, and special populations, such as Guard and 

Reserve and mental health professionals. The book is 

available for download at www.cstsonline.org.

Consortium Recognized as Center of Excellence

The Consortium for Health and Military Performance, 

a joint USU and service effort focusing on the health 

and performance of the warfighter, reached a notable 

achievement in 2013: recognition as a Department of 

Defense Center of Excellence. 

The consortium is a joint medical resource for the 

Department of Defense that provides education, basic 

and clinical research, and clinical expertise in the area 

of military-unique human performance optimization. Army 

Colonel (Dr.) Francis O’Connor, associate professor, is 

medical director of HPRC, while Patricia Deuster, Ph.D.,

is a professor and the consortium’s scientific director.

Its Human Performance Resource Center is an online 

clearinghouse for evidence-based information and key 

resources to help service members and their families in 

all aspects of performance to achieve total fitness and, 

ultimately, human performance 

optimization.

Optimal performance includes not 

only being physically active and 

eating well, but also psychological, social/familial, behavioral, 

spiritual, nutritional, physical 

and environmental fitness.

The center has both general and 

specific information, resources, 

strategies, tools and apps/videos 

organized around family and 

relationships, physical fitness, 

dietary supplements, nutrition, 

mind tactics, environment and 

total force fitness.

Uniquely USU
USU Sim Center Dedicated to Former Dean

USU’s National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center 

was dedicated to Dr. Val G. Hemming, (pictured right) dean 

emeritus of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine. He 

was the impetus behind USU’s Sim Center, one of the 

largest, most advanced simulation centers in the world.

Hemming’s vision—inspired by his efforts to modernize 

USU’s curriculum through cutting-edge technology in 

a risk-free environment—was lauded at the naming 

ceremony by the event’s keynote speakers, including 

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen; the Honorable 

Jonathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Health Affairs; Dr. Ronald Blanck, chair of USU’s Board of 

Regents; and Dr. Charles Rice, USU president.

It was particularly fitting that Blanck was present at this 

ceremony. As pointed out by Virginia Senator John Warner 

in a tribute to Blanck on the Senate floor in May of 2000, 

“General Blanck supported the establishment of this 

innovative center” at USU.

“In the military, we have a finite amount of time to 

create the competency for people who are going to be 

engaged in real-world situations and global 

situations—often in austere environments 

in which their talents are the difference 

between someone living and someone 

dying,” Woodson said. 

Over the past three decades, simulation 

technology has gradually become a central 

part of health science curriculums around 

the world, and USU’s center is a trailblazing facility. It’s the only place in the 

nation that offers every facet of health 

care simulation under one roof, and USU 

medical students participate in nearly 

40 different simulation exercises before 

they graduate.

The Sim Center has stayed at the cutting 

edge by incorporating advanced simulation 

technology and experiential learning 

into USU’s curriculum, just as Hemming 

envisioned 14 years ago.

Admiral Personifies USU’s Commitment to Leadership Development

Rear Admiral Helena O. Mishoe, (pictured right) an 

assistant surgeon general in the U.S. Public Health 

Service, is responsible for overseeing the National Heart, 

Lung and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) health disparities 

research and training agenda. The NHLBI is part of the 

National Institutes of Health.

Mishoe, a 2002 alumna of USU’s F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine graduate program in public health, 

is the first director of the NHLBI’s Office of Research 

Training and Minority Health. She ensures increased 

participation in NHLBI’s training and career development 

programs through recruitment, mentoring and retention of 

biomedical and behavioral scientists.

“The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 

is considered the ‘West Point’ for health leaders,” said 

USPHS Rear Admiral (Dr.) Boris Lushniak, acting U.S. 

surgeon general. “Since its inception, USU has been 

providing our uniformed service men and women with 

unparalleled education and is known for producing a 

strong cadre of officers who serve their 

country in the Department of Defense 

and in the U.S. Public Health Service 

Commissioned Corps. The graduates of 

USU are committed to the health care 

professions serving with excellence in 

military medicine and public health. 

“As a Commissioned Corps Officer, I am 

proud of our USU graduates who serve 

nationally and internationally in federal 

agencies such as the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, the National 

Institutes of Health, Indian Health Service, 

and the Food and Drug Administration,” 

he said. “The Commissioned Corps USU 

graduates embedded in these agencies 

have taken on leadership roles and have 

demonstrated merit in research, medicine 

and public health.”
Commencement Blends Tradition With Family

The Uniformed 

Services University of 

the Health Sciences 

commencement 

exercise is unlike 

any other graduation 

ceremony. The event 

incorporates the 

traditions and pomp 

and circumstance of 

both military service 

and academia.

During commencement, the president of the University 

confers both master’s and doctoral degrees to more than 

200 students. This convocation marks the culmination 

of years of study and preparation for military and 

civilian members of each graduating class. Following 

the conferring of degrees, the Medical Officers of the 

Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service leave the 

auditorium to change from their academic gowns into 

their service uniforms. On their return, they are sworn into 

service as physicians by their respective surgeons general.

Because some students are older than traditional 

graduates of health sciences universities, and because 

they have been able to attend school without incurring 

enormous financial debt and in a family friendly 

environment, USU commencements are very large and 

joyful family affairs. Some students are the first in their 

extended families to graduate with professional degrees 

or even from college, so the celebrations are widely 

shared. It is also true that graduates are leaving the 

University to go on to work and serve together in ways 

that are not replicated in other universities. For all these 

reasons, an extraordinary sense of shared vision and 

mission marks USU’s commencement.

The Postgraduate Dental College is on a slightly different 

academic year. Graduates of the college receive degrees 

in June in ceremonies at the installations where the 

respective programs are conducted.

Operation Bushmaster Tests Readiness for Combat Care

“Operation Bushmaster” is the University’s capstone field 

exercise for fourth-year medical students and graduatelevel nurse practitioner students to test their knowledge 

of the challenges of delivering medical care in support 

of combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian-assistance 

operations. During these same exercises, first-year 

medical students receive their first tactical training in a 

field environment. These students learn directly about 

battlefield medicine and the demands of caring for patients 

in a simulated combat environment during these field 

training exercises at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. 

The training exercise concludes with a simulated convoy 

attack during a nighttime operation, resulting in mass 

casualties. The students then draw on their education, 

training and experience as they try to make order out of 

chaos while triaging, treating and evacuating patients. 

The “patients” for the exercise are first-year medical 

students who have had moulage makeup applied to create 

realistic-looking combat wounds. Seeing these simulated 

wounds during the exercises helps prepare the students 

for encountering the real thing for the first time in a

combat environment or military hospital like the Walter 

Reed National Military Medical Center. 

Increased emphasis on treating patients as quickly and 

as far forward as possible presents challenges that those 

going into military medicine need to be prepared to deal 

with and are not taught in traditional academic health 

centers. These include treating patients while under fire, 

treating injured enemy combatants and working with far 

less equipment than found in fixed medical facilities. USU’s 

fourth-year students face those challenges during the field 

exercise, along with carefully constructed leadership and 

ethical challenges, as they treat “patients” while rotating 

through a variety of roles they play as medical officers, 

litter bearers, logistics officers and unit commanders. 

Bushmaster is another example of the unique education 

and training offered by USU to prepare students to take 

care of patients under circumstances that in no way 

resemble ordinary health care practice in an office, 

hospital or emergency room, but in situations they 

are likely to face under austere or otherwise 

challenging conditions. 

Uniquely USU
Research Days Spotlight Student, Faculty Work

Research Days includes lectures, presentations and 

other scholarly activities of faculty, staff and students’ 

innovative research, as well as scientists from other 

institutions who are invited to speak. The 2013 event 

included the inaugural Faye G. Abdellah Lecture, named 

after USU’s founding dean of the Graduate School of 

Nursing with a presentation by Charles Vacchiano, Ph.D., 

CRNA, a professor of nursing and associate professor 

of anesthesiology at Duke University and a retired Navy 

Nurse Corps officer. 

Li-Huei Tsai, Ph.D., director of the Picower Institute 

for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology, a leading expert in the field of 

neuroscience, with several ongoing investigations aimed 

at understanding the mechanisms underlying learning 

and memory also spoke. 

Jonathan Yewdell, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Cellular 

Biology Section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the 

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was the 

keynote speaker at the Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium. 

The final speaker, Harvey Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D., 

president of the Institute of Medicine, delivered 

Research Days’ capstone 

Presidential Lecture, 

“Doctors as Decision 

Makers: Coping With 

Uncertainty and Human 

Nature.” He encouraged 

health professionals at 

USU to carefully analyze 

the way they communicate 

and make important 

medical decisions.

Besides welcoming 

leading scientists from 

premier agencies beyond 

USU, Research Days also 

highlight the powerful 

work happening on 

campus with a special 

showcase of more than 300 research posters and 

lectures from faculty, staff and graduate students in the 

graduate programs, School of Medicine, Graduate School 

of Nursing, Postgraduate Dental College and the Armed 

Forces Radiobiology Research Institute.

Putting Skills Into Action

Navy Ensign John Hunt (pictured second from left) and 

Army Second Lieutenant Wells Weymouth, both members 

of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine class of 2016, 

put their emergency medical skills to work when they 

provided life-saving medical care to accident victims at a 

store in Gaithersburg, Md., after a car slammed through its 

walls, striking several people and critically injuring two. 

Hunt and Weymouth had just finished phase one of the 

school’s first-year Combat Medical Skills course. They 

were on the second day of the course’s next phase when 

they were asked to go to the store to pick up some 

supplies for a wound debridement lesson. After picking 

up the supplies and while still inside the store, the pair 

witnessed the accident and immediately ran over to assist, 

assessing the victims’ injuries and checking airways 

and breathing, among other life-saving steps they had 

just learned. The pair also used their belts and those of 

bystanders as tourniquets to stem massive blood loss in 

one of the victims whose leg was nearly severed. 

Emergency responders directly attributed the students’ 

actions with saving the severely injured man’s life. The 

Montgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue 

Services and the Gaithersburg Police Department later 

presented them with awards for heroism.
USU Leadership

President

Charles L. Rice, M.D.

Chief of Staff

Robert J. Thompson 

COL, MS, USA (Ret)

Senior Vice President 

for University Programs 

(Southern Region) 

Patrick D. Sculley, D.D.S., M.A. 

MG, DC, USA (Ret) 

Vice President for Affiliations 

and International Affairs 

Jeffrey L. Longacre, M.D. 

COL, MC, USA (Ret)

Vice President for External Affairs 

(Interim)

Jeffrey L. Longacre, M.D. 

COL, MC, USA (Ret)

Vice President for Finance 

and Administration

Stephen C. Rice, M.S.

CAPT, MSC, USN (Ret)

Vice President for Research (Acting)

Richard R. Levine, Ph.D.

LTC, MS, USA (Ret)

Vice President for Information & 

Education Technology/CIO

Timothy J. Rapp

MHA, MHIS, RHIA

LTC, MS, USA (Ret)

Director, Armed Forces 

Radiobiology Research Institute

L. Andrew Huff, M.D., MPH

Col, USAF, MC, SFS

General Counsel

Jason F. Kaar

LtCol, USAF, JAG (Ret)

Brigade Commander

Kevin W. Glasz, MHA 

Col, USAF, MSC

Brigade Senior Enlisted Leader

Patrick L. Hyde 

HMCM (SW/AW/FMF), USN

Faculty Senate President

Justin Woodson, M.D., MPH

LTC (P), MC, USA

F. Edward Hébert 

School of Medicine

Dean

Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D., MPH

Vice Dean

John E. McManigle, M.D.

Col, USAF, MC (Ret)

Commandant 

Brigilda Teneza, M.D., MPH

LTC, MC, USA

Associate Dean for Clinical Research

Mark Kortepeter, M.D., MPH

COL, MC, USA

Associate Dean for Faculty

Brian V. Reamy, M.D. 

Col, MC, USAF (Ret) 

Associate Dean for Graduate Education

Eleanor S. Metcalf, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Graduate 

Medical Education

Jerri Curtis, M.D. 

CAPT, MC, USN

Associate Dean for Medical Education

William Gilliland, M.D.

COL, MSC, USA (Ret)

Associate Dean for Recruitment 

and Admissions

Aaron Saguil, M.D. 

LTC, MC, USA

Associate Dean for Simulation 

Education

Joseph V. Lopreiato, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN (Ret)

Department of Anatomy, 

Physiology and Genetics

Chair: Harvey B. Pollard, M.D., Ph.D.

CAPT, USPHS (Ret)

Department of Anesthesiology

Chair: Dale F. Szpisjak, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN

Department of Biochemistry 

and Molecular Biology

Chair: Teresa M. Dunn, Ph.D.

Department of Biomedical Informatics

Chair: Ronald Gimbel, Ph.D.

CDR, MSC, USN (Ret)

Department of Dermatology

Chair: Leonard B. Sperling, M.D.

COL, MC, USA (Ret)

Department of Family Medicine

Chair: Mark Stephens, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN

Department of Medical 

and Clinical Psychology

Chair: David S. Krantz, Ph.D.

Department of Medicine

Chair: Louis N. Pangaro, M.D.

COL, MC, USA (Ret)

Department of Microbiology 

and Immunology

Chair: Alison D. O’Brien, Ph.D.

Department of Military 

and Emergency Medicine

Chair: Francis G. O’Connor, M.D.

COL, MC, USA

Department of Neurology

Chair: Jamie B. Grimes, M.D.

COL, MC, USA

Department of Obstetrics 

and Gynecology

Chair: Christopher Zahn, M.D.

Col, USAF, MC (Ret)

Department of Pathology

Chair: Robert M. Friedman, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN (Ret)

Department of Pediatrics

Chair: Ildy M. Katona, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN (Ret)

Department of Pharmacology

Chair: Jeffrey M. Harmon, Ph.D.

Department of Physical Medicine 

and Rehabilitation

Chair: Paul Pasquina, M.D.

COL MC, USA (Ret)

Department of Preventive 

Medicine and Biometrics

Chair: Gerald V. Quinnan, Jr., M.D.

RADM, USPHS (Ret)

Department of Psychiatry

Chair: Robert J. Ursano, M.D.

Col, MC, USAF (Ret)

Department of Radiation Biology

Interim Chair: Vijay K. Singh, Ph.D.

Department of Radiology 

and Radiological Sciences

Chair: Vincent Ho, M.D., MBA

Department of Surgery

Chair: Eric A. Elster, M.D.

CAPT, MC, USN

Interdisciplinary Doctoral 

Programs

Emerging Infectious Diseases Program

Director: Christopher C. Broder, Ph.D.

Molecular and Cell Biology Program

Director: Mary Lou Cutler, Ph.D.

Neuroscience Program

Director: Sharon L. Juliano, Ph.D.
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation

for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc.

produced this publication

ALUMNI

Daniel K. Inouye 

Graduate School of Nursing

Dean

Ada Sue Hinshaw, Ph.D., R.N.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Carol Romano, Ph.D., R.N.

RADM, USPHS (Ret)

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Sandra Bibb, DNSc, R.N.

CAPT, NC, USN (Ret)

Associate Dean for Research

Marguerite Littleton-Kearney, Ph.D, R.N.

CAPT, NC, USN (Ret)

Commandant and Assistant Dean 

for Student Affairs

Michelle Munroe, MSN, CNM, R.N.

LTC, AN, USA

Assistant Dean for Administration, 

Finance and Technology

Patricia Kenney, MS, R.N.

CAPT, NC, USN (Ret)

GSN All-Faculty Council President

Paul C. Lewis, Ph.D., R.N., FNP-BC

COL, AN, USA

Pro-Tem GSN-All Faculty Council 

President

Matthew R. D’Angelo, DNP, R.N., CRNA

MAJ, AN, USAR

Doctoral Program in Nursing Science

Director: Penny F. Pierce, Ph.D., R.N. 

Col, USAF, NC (Ret)

Family Nurse Practitioner Program

Director: Diane Seibert, Ph.D., R.N.

Registered Nurse Anesthesia Program

Director: Robert J. Hawkins, Ph.D., DNP, MBA, MS, 

CRNA 

CDR, NC, USN 

Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse 

Specialist Program

Director: Linda J. Wanzer, DNP, R.N., CNOR

COL, AN, USA (Ret)

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse 

Practitioner Program

Director: Jess Calohan, DNP, MN, PMHNP-BC

LTC, AN, USA

Postgraduate Dental College

Executive Dean

Patrick D. Sculley, D.D.S., MA

MG, DC, USA (Ret)

Army Postgraduate Dental School Dean

Priscilla Hamilton, D.M.D., MHA, MSS

COL, DC, USA

Comprehensive Dentistry (Ft. Bragg, NC) 

George Barber, D.M.A.

COL, DC, USA

Comprehensive Dentistry (Ft. Hood, TX) 

Mark McClary, D.D.S., MHA

COL, DC, USA

Comprehensive Dentistry 

(Schofield Barracks, HI) 

Peter Guevara, D.M.D.

COL, DC, USA

Navy Postgraduate Dental School Dean

Glenn Munro, D.D.S., MBA

CAPT, DC, USN

Comprehensive Dentistry (Bethesda, MD) 

Joseph Molinaro, D.M.D., MS

CDR, DC, USN

Endodontics (Bethesda, MD) 

Terry Webb, D.D.S., MS

CAPT, DC, USN

Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology (Bethesda, MD) 

Robert Foss, D.D.S., MS

CAPT, DC, USN

Orofacial Pain (Bethesda, MD) 

John Johnson, D.D.S., MS

CAPT, DC, USN

Periodontics (Bethesda, MD) 

John Wilson, D.M.D., MS

CDR, DC, USN

Prosthodontics (Bethesda, MD) 

Curtis Werking, D.D.S., MS

CAPT, DC, USN

Air Force Postgraduate Dental School Dean

Drew Fallis, D.D.S., MS

Col, DC, USAF

Comprehensive Dentistry (San Antonio, TX) 

Erik Meyers, D.D.S.

Col, DC, USAF

Tri-Service Orthodontics Program 

(San Antonio, TX) 

Curtis Marsh, D.D.S., MS

Col, DC, USAF

Comprehensive Dentistry (Keesler AFB, MS) 

Michael Wajdowicz, D.D.S. 

Col, DC, USAF

Board of Regents

Chair

Ronald R. Blanck, D.O. 

LTG, MC, USA (Ret)

Members

Honorable Otis W. Brawley

Honorable Sheila P. Burke

Haile T. Debas, M.D.

Ronald H. Griffith, M.P.A.

GEN, USA (Ret)

Michael M.E. Johns, M.D.

Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D. 

RADM, USPHS (Ret)

Honorable Gail R. Wilensky

Ex-Officio Members

Honorable Jonathan Woodson

Assistant Secretary of Defense 

for Health Affairs

Charles L. Rice, M.D.

Patricia D. Horoho, R.N., M.S.N. 

LTG, AN, USA

Surgeon General of the United 

States Army

Matthew L. Nathan, M.D. 

VADM, MC, USN

Surgeon General of the United 

States Navy

Thomas W. Travis, M.D., MPH 

Lt Gen, USAF, MC

Surgeon General of the United 

States Air Force

Boris D. Lushniak, M.D. 

RADM, USPHS

Acting Surgeon General of the 

United States
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814

www.usuhs.edu