An AMSUS Awards Committee chaired by former Navy Surgeon General, VADM Mike Cowan, MC, USN (Ret), has worked diligently to revise the association’s entire awards program with a dual objective of maintaining its prestige while aligning it with the modern healthcare environment. The existing program was established long ago, has been remarkably successful, but has not evolved to reflect the realities of current times. This program became somewhat unbalanced with regard to the alignment of the awards with the manner in which health professionals and teams now perform in pursuit of their missions. As a phase in to the totally revamped program in 2010, AMSUS introduced three new awards in 2009 and honored the first recipients during the recent Annual Meeting in St. Louis.

The Rising Star Award, is presented to an individual (0-5, E-7, or civilian equivalent and below) who early in his or her career has demonstrated success in federal healthcare delivery or management and is clearly on an ascending path to an executive leadership role. The individual must have demonstrated excellence and achievement in his or her initial assignments and have one to five years’ healthcare leadership experience

Major Julio R. Lairet, USAF, MC, staff emergency physician at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB, TX is the first honoree of the AMSUS Rising Star Award. He was recognized for his outstanding service as a clinician, academician, and leader of medical operations. Maj Lairet provides patient care in the Air Force’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and directs the operations of his service’s busiest ambulance service. He is the Air Force subject matter expert on emergency transport and reviewed and sanctioned ambulance service protocols which assured the safe transport of 26,000 patients Air Force-wide. A prolific academician, Maj Lairet has received over $306,000 in research grants and has authored 4 book chapters for prestigious medical texts. He is a most worthy and distinguished recipient of this first award honoring future federal leaders.

The AMSUS Lifetime Achievement Award marks a distinguished career of consistent excellence. The award is given to honor an individual who has made significant fundamental contributions to federal healthcare, either through a single transcendent act or a body of work. These contributions, whether they have been in leadership, clinical achievement, or mentorship must have had a lasting impact on federal healthcare and demonstrated a lifetime commitment to advancing healthcare quality and efficacy.

RADM Robert Williams, USPHS, was honored for his career as an engineer and public health leader. A graduate of Texas A&M, he began is federal service in the U.S. Army in 1979. He transferred to the Public Health Service in 1985 and was assigned to the Centers for Disease Control, serving in various positions, most notably as Director of the Division of Health Assessment and Consultation in the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. During his career, he received both the Junior and Senior Outstanding Military Engineer awards from the Society of American Military Engineers.

In 1999, he was selected as Chief Engineer of the PHS. In 2004, RADM Williams was selected by then-Surgeon General, Richard Carmona as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG). He concurrently served as Chief Engineer until the end of 2005. He has been serving as acting Deputy Surgeon General since August 2006. During his tenure in the OTSG, he has directed and/or coordinated the development of numerous Surgeon General communications to the American people. They include "The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General," The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking," and "The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes." In 2008, RADM Williams served as General Chair of the AMSUS 114th Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX. His remarkable career is a testament to the consummate Federal health professional.

The third new AMSUS Award in 2009 is the Force Health Protection Award. This group award recognizes the organization or team that has made the greatest contribution to assure that the men and women of the armed services and/or veterans are provided health services to assure mission readiness or optimal health functionality at all times. The concept of force health protection goes beyond the military and includes humanitarian and disaster relief, physical and occupational rehabilitation, as well as the work of the Public Health Service to provide force health protection to the nation threatened by disease, a natural disaster or acts of terrorism or war.

The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), Ft. Sam Houston TX, was recognized for excellence, innovation, and outstanding quality medical care. Its mission is to provide requirements driven innovations in combat casualty care to advance medical care for injured soldiers.

The USAISR Burn Center serves as the sole facility for combat burn casualties, beneficiaries, and civilian emergencies within the Department of Defense. Since 2003, the unit has provided care to more than 800 U.S. military burn casualties injured in support of overseas contingency operations and more than 1250 civilian burn victims. More than 300 of these casualties have been transported by the Institute’s Burn Flight Team which has completed more than 85 overseas missions to transport critically injured patients to the Burn Center for definitive care. Prevention and mitigations of severe thermal injury is an important aspect of the Center’s ongoing mission. In collaborations with the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, the Center recently deployed the Army Combat Shirt which provides enhanced thermal protection for the battlefield soldier. The Burn Center’s rehabilitation staff provides physical and occupational therapy designed to maximize return to duty of the thermal injury soldier as well as to maximize the long term functional outcomes of those soldiers who have been most severely injured by burns.

The USAISR Research Division has responded to ongoing conflicts by identifying critical needs in combat casualty care, developing innovative technologies and procedures, and deploying them to the battlefield to ensure that lives are saved and injured are returned to duty. The list of advances developed by this division is extensive, and covers the entire spectrum from self-aid to definitive cared delivered in theater, during evacuation, and in medical centers in the United States. More effective hemostatic dressings are on the battlefield today due to the success for the longstanding test and evaluation program led by USAISR. The Institute is the world leader in tourniquet research and development.

The USAISR Joint Theater Trauma System (JTTS) was developed as a systematic and integrated approach to better organize and coordinate battlefield care to minimize morbidity and mortality and optimize the ability to provide essential care required for casualties. The JTTS was promulgated with the vision that every soldier, marine, sailor, and airman injured on the battlefield or in the theater of operations will be provided with the optimal chance for survival and maximal potential for functional recovery. The JTTS has set the standard of trauma care for the modern battlefield utilizing contemporary systems-based methodologies and will continue to foster advances in military medicine. The USAISR’s 585 soldiers and civilians perform a world-renowned mission and are a most exemplary Federal health team recognized for unequaled capability. AMSUS is proud to recognize USAISR with its first Force Health Protection Award.

The totally revised 2010 AMSUS Awards Program will be introduced in the spring. AMSUS members should visit the redesigned AMSUS Website (www.amsus.org) in early April to see all the new individual and team awards. Members are encouraged to nominate worthy candidates for these awards. We look forward to recognizing these winners at the Annual Dinner in Phoenix, AZ in November 2010 at the conclusion of the 116th Annual Meeting.