Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
U.S. Army Major General James Gilman assumed command of Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., as well as the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command located there. Gilman succeeds Major General George Weightman, who retired. Gilman was previously commanding general of Brooke Army Medical Center and the Great Plains Regional Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Christine Hunter is now deputy director and program executive officer of TRICARE Management Activity. She serves as the principal adviser to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and oversees the acquisition, operation and integration of DoD’s managed care program within the military health system. Hunter previously was commander of the Navy Medicine West and Naval Medical Center in San Diego.
Brigadier General Byron Hepburn, commander of the Air Force Medical Support Agency at the Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Bolling Air Force Base, D.C., is now deputy surgeon general for the Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Bolling Air Force Base, D.C. Replacing Hepburn is Colonel James J. Carroll, who has been selected for the rank of brigadier general. Carroll was previously deputy assistant surgeon general of modernization at the Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Falls Church, Va.
Navy Captain Brian Dawson relinquished command of the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan, to Navy Captain Terry Moulton. Dawson was reassigned to the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C. Moulton was previously at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Millington, Tenn., where he served as the Naval Personnel Command’s Branch Head for the Medical Department Officer Distribution Branch. Air Force Brigadier General Douglas Robb has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general while serving as the command surgeon, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, previously commissioner of the New York City Health Department, was appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Rich Besser was serving as acting director prior to the appointment and continues to serve as head of CDC’s coordinating office for terrorism preparedness and emergency response.
Major Vikhyat Bebarta, chief of medical toxicology and a staff emergency physician at Lackland Air Force Base’ Wilford Hall Medical Center, received the Best Basic Science Research Award from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine for his research on evaluating treatments for cyanide poisoning. Bebarta’s yearlong research compared two antidotes to determine the most effective treatment for cases of cyanide poisoning resulting in cardiac arrest or death. Heidi King, acting director of DoD’s Patient Safety Program, received the National Patient Safety Foundation 2009 Chairman’s Medal, TRICARE Management Activity announced. King, the first DoD official to receive the award, directs the health care team coordination program, which works to improve teamwork in the provision of patient care in and safety of the military health system.
Northrop Grumman named Air Force Lieutenant General George Peach Taylor Jr., M.D. (Ret.) as vice president and chief medical officer and Amy King as vice president of health information technology programs. Taylor was previously vice president of IT programs at Northrop Grumman, and is a former lieutenant general and surgeon general for the U.S. Air Force. King was previously the company’s director of health care systems management.
Nancy Heimbaugh has been assigned as director of acquisition management for the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va. Heimbaugh was formerly the director of contracting and acquisition management for Defense Logistics Agency’s Defense Supply Center Philadelphia.
Army Sergeant Major Robert Wojtaszczyk is the new senior enlisted adviser to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and the TRICARE Management Activity. Wojtaszczyk was previously the senior enlisted adviser at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C.