Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MMT 2009 Volume: 13 Issue: 6 (September)
Army Colonel Leslie C. Smith, commandant of the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear school at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., was promoted to brigadier general. Smith has served on the Joint Staff, in the Army Staff, and as a battalion and brigade commander.
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation in Rockville, Md., awarded fellowships for the 2009-2010 academic year to three doctoral students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences: Kathleen Jones, who is studying how variants in a specific gene in the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori affect disease development; Kristen Hamilton, who is investigating the effect of stress on impulsivity, and how increased stress and impulsivity affect nicotine craving; and Robert Clark, who is studying the cultural, behavioral and psycho-physiological basis of sexual dysfunction.
Technical Sergeant Marisol Lozada of the 27th Special Operations Medical Group’s mental health clinic at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., was among the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year recently announced by the Air Force.
Peter L. Levin was named chief technology officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he will also act as a senior adviser to Secretary Eric Shinseki. An alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University, Levin was previously founder and chief executive of DAFCA, a semiconductor software company. Among other duties, he will work with Assistant Secretary and Chief Information Officer Roger Baker on the implementation and support of medical, Web-based and advanced software technologies.
Rear Admiral Karen A. Flaherty will be assigned as director of the Nurse Corps in Washington, D.C. Flaherty will maintain her current duties as deputy chief of wounded, ill and injured at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington.
Signal Hill, Calif.-based Integrated Medical Systems named former Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. James B. Peake to its external board of advisers. Peake is also a former surgeon general of the U.S. Army, from which he retired in 2004.
Captain Eleanor V. Valentin, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander of Navy Medicine Support Command and director of the Medical Service Corps in Jacksonville, Fla. Valentin is currently serving as chief of staff at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Captain Clinton F. Faison III, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as deputy chief of staff for medical operations, M3/M5, at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C. Faison last served as commanding officer of the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Lieutenant Colonel Donald W. Robinson has been assigned as the director of the DoD Patient Safety Program. Robinson last served as director of the U.S. Army Trauma Training Center, Ryder Trauma Center, at Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Miami, Fla., and as assistant professor of surgery at the University of Miami.
Stanley Q. Johnson was named director of the San Diego Veterans Affairs Health Care System, overseeing more than 4,800 employees and a budget of about $400 million, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Johnson previously was director of the Veterans Affairs health network in Puget Sound, Wash. He succeeds Gary Rossio, who is now a private consultant in the region.
Army Colonel Vernon McKenzie (Ret.), author of the military health care program that preceded the current TRICARE for Life program, died August 17 of cancer, the Washington Post reported. McKenzie was an acting principal deputy assistant of defense for health in the 1970s and a longtime advocate for better quality control of military medicine.