JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON –
Dr. Woodson "Scott" Jones, Dean of the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, honored 232 physicians and graduate allied health care providers during the annual SAUSHEC awards and graduation ceremony June 8 in the Lila Cockrell Theatre in downtown San Antonio.
SAUSHEC is the sponsoring organization responsible for military graduate medical education in San Antonio with two major training sites at San Antonio Military Medical Center and Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center and a close partnership with University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The ceremony, which marked the culmination of years of postgraduate training for Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, and civilian practitioners, was attended by more than 850 people.
Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of Defense Health Affairs and director, TRICARE Management Agency gave the keynote address. He focused on two key points. First, that the graduates will bring light with their competent and compassionate healthcare to sometimes dark and challenging places throughout the globe. And second, he stated that healthcare will consume an even greater portion of the Department of Defense budget in years to come, often at the expense of other core missions. So, he challenged the graduates to take the lead in the transformation from healthcare to health, or moving from treatment to prevention.
In a special ceremony, Lt. Col. Peter J. Cuenca, Col. James L. Furgerson, Lt. Col. Stephan A. Harrison, Air Force Lt. Col. Charles A. Leath, III, and Lt. Col. Clinton K. Murray were presented medallions as Gold Headed Cane finalists. Murray was then announced as the recipient and given the gold headed cane by Woodson, Maj. Gen. M. Ted Wong, commander of Brooke Army Medical Center, and Air Force Maj. Gen. Byron Hepburn, commander of 59th Medical Wing. The award symbolizes the best academic medicine has to offer in the three arenas that are its focus: patient care, teaching, clinical research and operational medicine.
During the awards portion of the ceremony, Commanders' Awards were presented to nine residents and six fellows for excellence in research. Ten professionals were also honored. Capt. Katharine K. Roberts and Capt. Brent R. Mittelstaedt were presented Maj. John H. Gillespie Intern Awards. The Maj. David S. Berry Resident Awards went to Maj. Matthew F. Barchie and Capt. Anne P. Spillane. The Col. Donald Null Fellowship awards were presented to Maj. Michael C. Hjelkrem and Lt. Col. Shayne C. Stokes.
Mrs Lilia Neaves was named the outstanding program coordinator, while Maj. Matthew E. Griffith and Lt. Col. Kaustubh G. Joshi were selected for the Lt. Gen. PK Carlton Faculty Awards. Finally, the Col. John D. Roscelli Award was presented to Colonel Joseph A. Brennan, the outstanding program director.
During the graduation portion of the ceremony, 186 graduates from 35 graduate medical education programs and 46 graduates from 15 graduate allied healthcare programs received certificates from Dean Jones, Dr. Lois Bready, senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education at UTHSCSA, Hepburn, Wong, and Woodson.