Navy Medical Corps Celebrates 133 Years of Service
Story Number: NNS040226-09
Release Date: 2/28/2004 6:28:00 AM
By Doris M. Ryan, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- More than 4,000 Navy physicians around the world will celebrate the Navy Medical Corps birthday March 3.
Uniformed physicians, both active-duty and Reserve, are part of a unique health care organization where they practice medicine in Military Treatment Facilities (MTF), in the field, aboard ships, on submarines and with aircraft squadrons. They focus on maintaining the health and readiness of active-duty Sailors and Marines, and at the same time provide health care to family members and military retirees.
“Navy physicians, by volunteering for the Medical Corps, are dedicating part of their medical career to serving those who serve this nation,” said Rear Adm. Donald C. Arthur, chief of the Medical Corps and commanding officer of the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md. “Naval Medicine provides the best health care in the world.”
Navy physicians meet the challenge of balancing the health care needs of a diverse population of beneficiaries and meeting military medical missions.
“We are masters of the unexpected,” said Arthur. “Our doctors can work under the most austere conditions. They practice medicine in garrison with the Marines, at sea and in combat, where they are faced with injuries of incredible severity and complexity. Because of the part they play in Naval Medicine, it is vital to maintain professional qualifications and readiness to support Sea Power 21 and the Commandant’s Guidance.”
The Navy Medical Corps includes more than 47 specialties and nearly 200 subspecialties.
“Physicians in the Navy fill many roles,” said Capt. Michael P. Malanoski, the Medical Corps career planner at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. “The most recognizable are the practicing clinicians in the hospitals and clinics, and those assigned to the operational forces, like general medical officers, flight surgeons and undersea/diving medical officers. There is also a small cadre of physicians involved in basic and clinical research focused on military-specific areas, like infectious diseases, biological warfare, blood banking and advanced trauma care. Also, many physicians fill positions in executive medicine as leaders in the Navy, either at the MTFs or in the field.”
“This birthday is a celebration. We recognize the accumulation of professionalism in Naval Medicine,” said Arthur. “We are not just celebrating a particular Corps, because the Medical Corps is inextricable from all the other corps in the Medical Department. We are a team. The doctors, nurses, corpsmen, dentists, technicians and Medical Service Corps members work together.”
“I will be leaving as head of the Medical Corps on March 6,” said Arthur. “I’ve been the Corps Chief for four and a half years, and it has been one of the proudest times for me as a naval officer because of the incredible level of professionalism I’ve seen in the Medical Department. I am very proud to be part of the Medical Corps.”
