A career in military medicine can offer purpose, leadership, and clinical breadth that civilian paths rarely match — but the route in is poorly understood. In this WarDocs episode, COL Danielle Holt, MD, Associate Dean of Admissions and Recruitment at the USU School of Medicine, opens the door. A Career Built Across Two Identities Holt’s path runs from ROTC and a general surgery residency at Tripler Army Medical Center to duty stations as different as rural Fort Wainwright, A

Some careers follow a map. CAPT (Ret) Kimberly Elenberg's followed her curiosity, and it carried her from a hospital ward at Walter Reed to the front lines of autonomous battlefield medicine. In this WarDocs episode, she shares how a 28-year journey across the Army, the US Public Health Service, and academia was built one relationship and one bold leap at a time. It Started With a Building in Philadelphia Elenberg's military career began with a glimpse of ROTC cadets rappelli

Navigating the Shift to Large Scale Combat Operations The transition from counterinsurgency operations to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) represents a fundamental shift in how the Army prepares for conflict. In past environments, the "Golden Hour" for evacuation was often a standard expectation. However, in an LSCO environment, resources will be constrained, and communication may be limited by electromagnetic interference. We must now prepare for prolonged field care sce

Most military trauma surgeons did not begin their careers loading jet fuel on a flight line. Col Valerie Sams, MD did. That unconventional path, from Air Force line officer in logistics and fuels to trauma czar at the Bagram role three and now Director of C-STARS Cincinnati, has shaped one of the most clear-eyed voices in military medicine on what it takes to lead, train, and equip the force for the next fight. In this episode of WarDocs — The Military Medicine Podcast, sh

When NASA needed someone to help solve the problem of keeping astronauts alive during a three-year mission to Mars, they called a retired Marine Colonel who had already flown four Space Shuttle missions, completed a dual residency in internal medicine and pediatrics, run an Ebola treatment unit in Liberia, and cared for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In a conversation recorded from Sydney, Australia, Dr. David Hilmers joined WarDocs to lay out a blueprint for military medic

What happens when a thousand wounded service members arrive on American soil in a single day — and they keep arriving for a hundred days straight? That is the scenario Dr. Paul D. Biddinger is paid to plan for, and in his WarDocs interview, he delivers a clear-eyed, data-grounded assessment: the U.S. healthcare system is not ready — and it needs to start building that readiness now. The Capacity Crisis Nobody Talks About Dr. Biddinger opens with a fact that reframes the

The Journey from Combat to Classroom Military service often provides a wealth of practical experience, but the transition to civilian leadership requires a different set of tools. In this episode of WarDocs, we sit down with Master Sergeant (Retired) Jonathan Lu, a former 18 Delta Special Operations Medic whose career path serves as a blueprint for professional evolution. From the front lines of route clearance to the corridors of academia, Lu’s story is a testament to th

This episode of WarDocs features Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Charisma Evangelista, the Air Force’s leading voice on refractive surgery and an expert in ocular trauma. The conversation begins with her upbringing in the Philippines and her unique path to military medicine, driven by a desire for service and the supportive, collaborative culture she found at the Uniformed Services University. Dr. Evangelista explains her transition from a prospective general surgeon to an

From Survival to Restoration: The Evolution of Military Rehabilitation In the wake of 9/11 and the ensuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, military medicine faced a daunting challenge: a wave of casualties with devastating, complex injuries unlike those seen in recent history. In our latest episode of WarDocs , we sit down with Retired Army Colonel Dr. Paul Pasquina, a leader in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, to discuss how Walter Reed Army Medical Center adapte

In this compelling episode of the podcast, we explore the groundbreaking paradigm shift of bringing whole blood resuscitation from the combat zones of Afghanistan directly to civilian pre-hospital emergency care. For decades, standard civilian trauma protocols relied heavily on crystalloid fluids and component therapy, delaying crucial blood transfusions until a critically injured patient arrived at the hospital. However, hard-won lessons from military medical teams operating

Leading the Future of Military Medicine: A Master Class with LTG Mary K. Izaguirre In this episode of WarDocs, we are honored to speak with Lieutenant General Mary K. Izaguirre, the 46th Army Surgeon General. With a career spanning over 30 years—from her early days at Madigan Army Medical Center to her time in a Bagram tent—LTG Izaguirre shares her perspective on leading through periods of immense transformation. The Fundamental Shift: Optimizing for the Mission A core t

Celebrating Excellence in Military Medicine Research In this episode of WarDocs, we sit down with the lead author of the prestigious 2025 Military Medicine Article of the Year. The discussion centers on a groundbreaking study that utilizes the LIMBIC-CENC cohort, a massive consortium representing over 3,000 participants. This research is fundamentally changing how the medical community views "invisible" wounds by providing physical evidence for symptoms that traditional imagi