4
Message from the
Directors for Medicine
04
This year has been a remarkable one for the Directorate for Medicine
at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Advances in innovative
care have occurred in several domains, and we’re excited to share with
you in the pages that follow just some of those advances.
First, healthcare delivery is rapidly growing into a regional healthcare
delivery model, which has challenged us to think differently about the
way we care for our patients. In many instances, such as with our Allergy
and Cardiology services, staff travel throughout the region to where our
patients are. Several of our department and service chiefs serve as the
product line chairs on a regional specialty access team. Advances in
telehealth and Secure Messaging extend our ability to provide care in
innovative ways. The Directorate for Medicine is at the forefront of
these endeavors and is leading the way.
Second, improvement in the experience of healthcare by our patients
and our healthcare team has become a clear goal. Experience of care is
one of the aims within the Military Health System’s Quadruple Aim, and
Walter Reed Bethesda has taken a lead in this area too. Our own Dr.
Catherine Kimball-Eayrs was recently assigned as the first DoD Chief
Experience Officer and will lead this effort at Walter Reed Bethesda.
Third, we have a rich history of research and academic excellence.
Whether it’s Cardiology research on the effects of breast shielding for
women who need cardiac CT scans; a Neurology collaboration with NIH
to diagnose and treat patients with tumors of the brain, spinal cord and
5
peripheral nerves; the development of a clinical genomics service in
Pediatrics; or Emergency Department research that speeds the delivery
of pain medication to patients, the directorate is making great strides in
medical discovery. We also provide the academic environment required
for innovation and discovery in medical education at all levels.
And finally, despite the changing landscape of healthcare, readiness is
at the center of all that we do. The readiness of our military members,
and the readiness of our medical teams to provide medical support to
our warfighters, undergirds our mission. We are rightly proud of our
accomplishments and highly honored to serve our military.
We invite you to celebrate this year’s innovations in care.
Joel Anthony Nations, MD, MBA, FACP, FCCP
Director for Medicine
CAPT
|
MC
|
USN
Catherine A. Kimball-Eayrs, MD, FAAP, IBCLC
Deputy Director for Medicine
COL
|
MC
|
USA
Kimberly L. Bell, RN
Deputy Director for Medicine
LTC
|
NC
|
USA
Research being conducted by
Cardiology, Hematology/Oncology
and Pediatrics with The American Genome
Center at USU is fostering the development
of precision medicine to help treat patients
with life-threatening arrhythmias, heart
failure and aortopathy; the screening
of cancer patients with genetic
abnormalities; and cancer genetic
counseling services for
pediatric patients.
Ph
o
to
c
o
u
rt
es
y D
A
rt
h
u
r,
H
e
n
ry
M
J
ac
ks
o
n
F
o
u
n
d
ati
o
n