Eric Schoomaker Lieutenant General Eric B . Schoomaker , United States Army ( born September 15 , 1948 ) was the 42nd Surgeon General of the United States Army and Commanding General , United States Army Medical Command , and a practicing hematologist . He previously served as Commanding General , North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center . He assumed the post of U . S . Army Surgeon General on December 11 , 2007 . Biography . Schoomaker was born into an Army family in Detroit , Michigan . He is the younger brother of General Peter Schoomaker , USA , who served as the 35th Chief of Staff of the United States Army . He attend East Lansing High School . In 1970 he graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor , was commissioned a second lieutenant as a Distinguished Military Graduate , and awarded a bachelor of science degree . He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975 and completed his PhD in Human Genetics in 1979 . He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham , North Carolina , from 1976 to 1978 , followed by a fellowship in hematology at Duke University Medical Center in 1979 . He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both internal medicine and hematology . His military education includes completion of the Combat Care Casualty Course , Medical Management of Chemical Casualty Care Course , AMEDD Officer Advanced Course , Command and General Staff College , and the U . S . Army War College . Schoomaker has held a wide variety of assignments . From 1979 until 1982 , he was a research hematologist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research . He served as Assistant Chief and Program Director , Department of Medicine , Walter Reed Army Medical Center , from 1982 to 1988 ; Medical Consultant to Headquarters , 7th Medical Command , Heidelberg , Germany , 1988 – 1990 ; Deputy Commander for Clinical Services , Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center , Landstuhl , Germany , 1990 – 1992 ; Chief and Program Director , Department of Medicine and Director of Primary Care , Madigan Army Medical Center , Tacoma , Washington , 1992 – 1995 ; Director of Medical Education for the Office of The Surgeon General / HQ USAMEDCOM conducting a split operation between Washington , DC , and Fort Sam Houston , Texas , 1995 – 1997 ; and Director of Clinical Operations at the HQ USAMEDCOM , February to July 1997 . From July 1997 to July 1999 , he commanded the USA MEDDAC ( Evans Army Community Hospital ) at Fort Carson , Colorado . He attended the U . S . Army War College in Carlisle Barracks , Pennsylvania , from 1999 to 2000 followed by assignments as the Command Surgeon for the U . S . Army Forces Command ( FORSCOM ) from July 2000 to March 2001 , and Commander of the 30th Medical Brigade headquartered in Heidelberg , Germany , from April 2001 to June 2002 . In August 2002 , The Army Surgeon General appointed General Schoomaker to the position of Chief of the Army Medical Corps . Prior to commanding at Fort Detrick , he was the Commanding General of the Southeast Regional Medical Command / Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center from June 2002 to June 2005 . Schoomaker was then the commanding general of the U . S . Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick until March 2007 . From March until December 11 , 2007 , he was commander of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center . He has been honored with the Order of Military Medical Merit and the " A " proficiency designator and holds the Expert Field Medical Badge . He has three children .