A Message from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs

Posted on October 21, 2024 Updated on October 19, 2024

Colleagues,

I am writing today to let you know that I will be leaving the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs at the end of this month.  Serving you, and the people of this nation, for the past year and a half has been the privilege of my life and making this decision was not easy.  I am enormously proud of what we have accomplished together and confident that you all are more than ready to fully implement the vision we’ve laid out to stabilize, sustain, and strengthen the Military Health System.

Ten months ago, the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks issued a memo directing us to stabilize and improve the MHS with an emphasis on reattracting patients to our facilities.  All parts of our system – the leaders in Health Affairs, in the Defense Health Agency and at the Uniformed University of the Health Sciences, along with the Services and all our partners – have come together in historic fashion to begin this process and I am very grateful for all you’ve done.  There is much to be done to fully achieve this objective – from becoming a requirements-based system, to improving staffing and increasing capacity. 

As you look to the work ahead, I leave you in the capable hands of my Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Ms. Seileen Mullen and our superlative Deputy Assistant Secretaries:  Dr. David Smith, Mr. Darryl Landreaux, and Ms. Susan Orsega.  I know they can count on you for continued support.

I look forward to saying goodbye to as many of you as I can in the coming two weeks, and to following your work in the months and years ahead.

Very Respectfully,

Lester

Lester Martínez-López, M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs