Announcing the USU Packard Lecture for 2025
Greetings.
We are thrilled to be welcoming Mr. Larry Ellison to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for the annual Packard Lecture on Wednesday April 23, 2025 at 2PM Eastern time.
Larry Ellison is chairman of Oracle Corporation and chief technology officer. He founded Oracle in 1977.
Please see the official flyer (attached). For those wanting to attend this event in person, advanced registration is required, as seating will be limited compared to what we anticipate will be great interest amongst people both within USU and other agencies and partners.
There will be a virtual option but we will send that link/info as we get closer to the event.
To register for in-person attendance, please use the QR code on the attached flyer.
Most sincerely,
Geeta Upadhyay PhD and Craig Shriver, MD
New Benefit Alert! Health Care FSA for Service Members
Eligible Service members can enroll for a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HCFSA) for the first time through a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) from March 3, 2025 – March 31, 2025.
A Health Care Flexible Spending Account allows Service members to set aside between $100 – $3,300 per individual in pre-tax earnings each year to pay for expenses such as
– Over-the-counter medicines and drugstore items such as sunscreen, Band-Aids, and menstrual products
– Co-pays and cost-shares
– Eye exams, glasses, and contact lenses
– Dental and orthodontia
There are more than 300+ HCFSA eligible expenses. Search whether the expenses you pay for are HCFSA-eligible here: https://www.fsafeds.gov/explore/hcfsa/expenses
Service members and their families sometimes must pay out-of-pocket for certain healthcare expenses to supplement the coverage offered through TRICARE. HCFSAs can be used for you and your dependents health expenses, allowing Service members to save while paying for those costs.
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Delivered by Defense Finance and Accounting Service
FY26 O6 Staff Corps Promotion Opportunities
On page 2 of the just released convening order, you can find the promotion opportunities for O6 in FY26:
Here’s the full convening order:
Message from the New Medical Corps Chief and Detailing Update
Medical Corps Officers,
Good morning and happy Friday! Below is a message from our new Medical Corps Chief RDML Kevin Brown. RDML Brown’s bio is available at https://www.navy.mil/Leadership/Flag-Officer-Biographies/BioDisplay/Article/3848460/rear-admiral-kevin-j-brown/
I’m honored to serve as your 15th Medical Corps Chief. I thank RDML Valdes for his 3 years of leadership as our Chief, and his dedication to the professional health and well-being of our Navy physicians. My priority is to build on the foundation and successes RDML Valdes established as we continue to improve the health of our Corps. Having just returned from the Surgeon General’s quarterly FOSESFOR (Flag Officer / Senior Executive Service / Force Master Chief) symposium, I am confident that the considerable investment in the Medical Corps is beginning to pay dividends, but we still have much work to do.
Recruit – We will continue to identify and prioritize successful recruitment initiatives to attract the most talented physicians to the Navy. Rebounding from two lean years, FY24 saw a return to historic norms for medical student recruiting. In partnership with RADM Waters at Navy Recruiting Command, we’ve increased our medical student goals for FY25 and added aggressive direct accessions goals to accelerate the Medical Corps recovery. The best recruiters of future Navy doctors are current Navy doctors. We must leverage our physicians’ vast expertise and experience to energize the next generation of leaders and ensure the continuous preservation of the Navy Medical Corps pipeline.
Train – Graduate Medical Education and Force Development remain a priority. We will continue to increase training opportunities for developing initial competency while exploring effective and alternative models for currency and skill sustainment. Just as our operations doctrine has adjusted to the pacing threat, our medical force development must evolve to ensure Navy physicians’ ability to render care in any situation, under all operational conditions, is never compromised.
Retain – The health of our Medical Corps, and Navy Medicine’s ability to meet its mission, hinges on keeping physicians in the Navy. The foundation of any successful team is trust. Frankly, decisions made after the end of the Global War on Terror eroded physician trust within our team. We must re-establish that trust. By enhancing career progression, promotion opportunities, clinical and operational experiences, and initiatives designed to improve our Quality of Service, Navy physician professional gratification will improve. Starting with addressing civilian-military pay gaps, we will systematically remove doubt that the Navy is the premier physician employer in the United States.
Consider this a call to action. Get involved. Be part of the solution. I’m excited by our initiatives to improve the experience of naval service for our physicians and unequivocally demonstrate the value of continued service, but success requires effort from each of you. Working together, I have no doubt we will establish and sustain the prominence of our Medical Corps
Kevin
We also want to take this opportunity to address potential changes in how our officers experience the detailing process.
Changes in PERS-4415 engagement with Medical Corps Officers – This is not a policy change. The detailing process and the specialty leader-detailer relationship is unchanged. Specialty leaders make recommendations; detailers issue orders. Our detailers (PERS-4415) have always had the final say in MC officer assignments. Because physician careers are different than line officers, the Medical Corps has specialty leaders assigned to each specialty to ensure specialty-specific considerations are incorporated into physician detailing decisions. The line does not have specialty leaders. MC specialty leaders have traditionally been the ones who have in-depth conversations with individual MC officers within their communities IRT career progression and next assignments. This will still occur. However, BUPERS has instructed our MC detailers to play a larger role in these discussions similar to the way line communities (and the other health services support officer Corps) are handled. The net result is MC officers will likely have these detailed conversations with both our specialty leaders and our detailers before they meet to make final assignment determinations.
v/r,
John J. Devlin, MD, FAACT, FACEP
CAPT / MC / USN
Deputy Chief, Navy Medical Corps
Office of the Corps Chiefs (N01C),
Bureau of Medicine & Surgery (BUMED)
NMCP Association Director of Surgical Services – Due 7 MAR 2025
The Associate Director, Surgical Services (ADSS) assists the Director with implementing his/her vision for the future, executing the administrative workload and providing oversight of clinic and surgical operations. The ADSS cultivates a collaborative work environment among the ten Department Heads (Anesthesia, Brain & Spine, Cancer Coordination Center, Eyes Ears Nose and Throat, General Surgery Oral Maxillofacial surgery, Operative Support Services, Orthopedics, Urology, and Gynecological Services, and Obstetrics). The incumbent is responsible in assisting the director in using available resources to provide the best possible patient care. The incumbent also provides guidance and direction to leaders within the directorate regarding administrative matters, management of personnel, budgetary issues and clinic management.
The position is open to Navy Medical Department officers of all Corps at the O-4 to O-6 level with a professional clinical background. All applicants must have the approval of their Detailer to apply.
The preferred candidate will have the following attributes:
1) A track record of broad superior performance in both clinical and leadership positions;
2) Effective interpersonal, communicative, and collaborative skills;
3) Proven ability to function in operational and academic settings and to understand operational and academic imperatives;
4) Superior military bearing.
Interested candidates should submit (preferably via e-mail) a letter of interest, a short bio, copies of the 3 most recent FITREPs, and a CV by 07 MAR 2025 to:
Tresa R. James
Administrative Assistant, Director of Surgical Services
Naval Medical Readiness Training Center
620 John Paul Jones Circle
Portsmouth VA 23708
Office: 757-953-3051
Pentagon Prioritizes Homeland Defense, Warfighting, Slashing Wasteful Spending
During a media interview today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said efforts at the Defense Department include modernizing the nuclear triad and building an iron dome for the U.S., referring to the iron dome that defends Israel against aerial threats.
These and other homeland priorities will be reflected in the fiscal year 2026 defense budget and future defense budgets, he added.
The secretary also addressed defense spending. He said DOD is committed to passing a clean audit across the department, as the Marine Corps has done for the last two years.
“American taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and where their money is spent,” he said. “We need to know when we spend dollars; we need to know where they’re going and why.”
He said the department welcomes Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which will help identify ways to streamline this process, fast-track acquisitions and cut waste.
The secretary will be traveling to Brussels, Belgium, this week to attend the NATO ministerial meeting. He also will be traveling to Poland and Germany to meet with his counterparts and U.S. service members stationed there.
Hegseth said he especially looks forward to meeting the troops and hopes to do some physical training with them.
“I want to make sure our troops understand how focused we are on their warfighting capabilities,” he said.
But the focus is not just on Europe. It’s also the Indo-Pacific region, he said, mentioning recent phone calls and meetings he’s had with leaders in Australia, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.
He said the focus there is maintaining a strategic advantage over China. “We want the future of the world to be free.”
“We’re confronting threats in real time, restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, reestablishing deterrence,” he said.
“I’m proud to come alongside the 1.3 million uniformed members of the department who execute America’s national security approach and do so with fidelity only to the Constitution and the rule of law, and that’s all you can ask for,” he said.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 