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Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

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Colonel Donald Gray Heppner Jr., deputy commander of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, received Kiwanis International’s 2009 World Service Medal for work in developing a vaccine against malaria. As part of his work, Heppner voluntarily contracted the disease to test drug treatments and later, with a team of scientists and GlaxoSmithKline, did field studies of the vaccine RTS,S, which this year was licensed for testing throughout Africa.

Dr. Regina Dugan was appointed director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), succeeding Dr. Tony Tether. Dugan was most recently president, CEO and co-founder of Rockville, Md.-based RedXDefense, which develops technology for defense against explosives. Dugan from 1996 to 2000 was a program manager at DARPA, for which she led the development of a field-portable system for detecting land mines.

Lieutenant Colonel Jose Andujar, deputy chief of staff of operations at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, received the 2009 League of United Latin American Citizens’ Excellence in Military Service Award. The league works to better the economic conditions, educational attainments, political influence, and health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans.

Colonel Jerome Penner III, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity at Fort Drum, N.Y., was expected in mid-August to take command of the Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, Wash. The current commander there, Major General Patricia D. Horoho, will continue to command the Western Regional Medical Command, also based at Fort Lewis. Horoho is also chief of the Army Nurse Corps.

Brigadier General Donald Bradshaw was expected to relinquish command of Fort Gordon’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center and the Southeastern Regional Medical Command. His successor at press time had not yet been announced. In addition, the center’s Command Sergeant Major Donna Brock relinquished her command to join a new task force, the Joint Task Force National Capitol Medical, which oversees the 36 military treatment facilities. Command Sergeant Major Mike Brooks is acting as the interim hospital and region command sergeant major.

Defense Group named Neil Cohen director of business development for its CoBRA software division, which supports first responders to toxic industrial chemical spills and other incidents. In addition, Cohen was recently elected to the board of the NBC Industry Group, an association composed of over 140 organizations supporting nuclear, biological and chemical defense.

A University of Florida engineering researcher, Dr. David Arnold, received the President Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for a project on “micromagnetic actuator technologies,” or magnetic microsystems that can be used for tiny switches, pumps, valves or other controls in medical, industrial, military and consumer products. Arnold is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Gainesville, Fla., university. ♦

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