ASDHA
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Dear Colleagues,
I apologize for being a bit overdue in checking in with you – I enjoy sharing what’s happening here in the Pentagon and hearing your candid and always helpful feedback.
It’s been a busy March! The month started with the annual AMSUS meeting where I met many of you and heard about the great work you do across the MHS. We heard inspiring and informative speeches from the Surgeons General and the Joint Staff Surgeon. Each laid out an assessment, a vision, and a plan for how their medical departments will continue to maintain readiness despite ongoing resource challenges in an increasingly complex global threat environment. I took away the ever-increasing need for Service interoperability as we confront the tyranny of distance and the distributed nature of operations within the Indo-Pacific AOR. I couldn’t agree more. During my remarks, I summarized my top three priorities that focus on the “3 S’s”: Support, Sustain, and Strengthen.
- Support the Warfighter (always)
- Sustain our Skills (everyday)
- Strengthen our Chain (in perpetuity)
My team and I also had the opportunity to meet with military medical leaders from around the globe. Cultivating and strengthening these partnerships is a strategic imperative. Complex, international geographic borders and the requirement for land, sea, and air prowess reinforces the need for teamwork across both our Services and with our allies.
In March, the DoD also hosted the FY25 Q2 HEC and JEC meetings, a Congressionally established forum for senior MHS and VA leaders to convene and establish strategic priorities for collaboration. I’m excited that our leadership team’s inaugural meetings with these groups prioritized bolder, more innovative initiatives than ever before. Our ideas place the emphasis on initiatives that will enhance our Ready Medical Force capability. We know that focusing on high volume, high acuity care is critical to Skills Sustainment and Force Generation, and that it’s also key to morale and workforce stability. In fact, we will be identifying 4-8 locations for closer DoD and VA collaboration soon. I’ll keep you updated on this development.
My favorite part of this job is visiting you. Recent visits included Guantanamo Bay, Walter Reed, Wright-Patterson, Fort Detrick, and the 711th Human Performance Wing. Your questions during town halls about job stability, hiring, workload, and the future of the MHS are invaluable. I want you to know your concerns are heard at the highest levels of the Pentagon and it is because of the critical nature of your work that the MHS has been given significant flexibility regarding hiring and employment policies.
I’m looking forward to visiting California, Nebraska, Texas, and Guam this month, and attending the MHS Conference in Cleveland. Thank you for your hard work. I’m committed to ensuring you have the resources, training, and tools you need. There are many excellent healthcare systems, but only the MHS goes to war.
Very respectfully,
Steve
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs—DHA Director Transition Announcement
Colleagues,
This morning, Army Lieutenant General (LTG) Dr. Telita Crosland, the fourth Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is beginning her retirement. I want to thank LTG Crosland for her dedication to the nation, to the Military Health System, and to Army Medicine for the past 32 years.
I have designated Dr. David Smith, the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, as the Acting Director of the DHA while the Department conducts the normal nomination process. Dr. Smith is a steady hand with decades of experience in the Military Health System in and out of uniform. I ask everyone to support Dr. Smith and the entire DHA team as we stabilize and strengthen our system serving the most lethal fighting force on the planet. Dr. Smith’s biography is available on Health.mil.
I am confident the DHA will continue to improve health care in support of our beneficiaries and rise to meet complex security challenges worldwide. Thank you for all you do for the Department of Defense and our great nation.
Respectfully,
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Colleagues,
What an exciting first two weeks it’s been! I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Military Health System leaders across the gamut: MTF directors to the SG’s, DHA to the Joint Staff. I’ve heard from folks doing the frontline work right at the bedside. I’ve seen many of the great things you’re doing at the deckplate — saving lives at the bleeding edge of the most complex, global healthcare system in the world. It’s been inspirational.
This is an action-oriented administration. The Secretary is bringing that energy and laser focus to our warfighting mission and I submit that the MHS is absolutely a weapon system enabler.
We enhance the lethality of our fighting force by being a force multiplier. We enable and empower the warfighter to take risk with the confidence that should they be injured, they will receive prompt and effective medical care — anytime, anywhere.
Ours is a no fail mission.
To ensure we remain mission capable, we must seek to continuously restore, stabilize, fortify, and sustain our medical capabilities.
In the operational realm, this means ensuring the readiness of programs such as the Joint Trauma System and the Armed Services Blood Program; critically evaluating and updating policies and procedures matrixing the Services, the DHA, and the Combatant Commands. Within our MTFs, thousands of healthcare professionals execute on our healthcare delivery mission. The entire team who takes care of patients across the arc of life, from a person’s first breath to their last, is vital to reaffirming the ties that bind us as a military family, while supporting the crucial readiness dyad: Skills Sustainment and Force Generation.
In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be traveling to CONUS and OCONUS sites across the MHS. I wish I could meet each and every one of you. I look forward to seeing your spaces — where patients are healed, and the art of healing is conveyed. I’m eager to hear your thoughts and ideas. Be candid!
Thank you, and may God guide your sacred work.
Respectfully,
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Colleagues,
I am honored to join you as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and for the time being as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. Throughout my career, I have witnessed firsthand the dedication, expertise, and impact of the Military Health System (MHS), and I am committed to supporting and advancing our shared mission.
Having served 25 years as a Navy physician, I have a deep appreciation for the complexity of the military medical mission and the critical role each of you plays in ensuring the health and readiness of our service members, families, and retirees. My experience across combat, humanitarian, and disaster relief missions has reinforced the importance of a strong, integrated healthcare system – one that balances operational readiness with the highest quality of care.
My relationship to the MHS vastly transcends simply my professional association, however—I have a deep personal affection for the institution. Both of my children were born in an MTF, and the dedicated healthcare professionals of the Army, Navy, and Air Force have expertly and compassionately cared for my family for nearly 35 years.
Beyond uniformed service, my time as Chief Medical Officer of the Central Intelligence Agency and as a Congressional Fellow on the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce committee allowed me to remain deeply engaged in national security, health policy, and oversight of key agencies like CMS, FDA, CDC, and NIH. These roles have only strengthened my belief that the success of the MHS relies on collaboration, accountability, and a steadfast focus on our people.
In an ever changing and uncertain national security environment, we are again reminded that we bear the privilege and responsibility to honor the compact made between those who pledge to go into harm’s way: that should they become ill or injured, they will receive prompt and effective medical care whether on land, sea, air, or space.
We have a unique opportunity to confront the challenges that lay ahead and to take bold initiative. Our greatest strength, our most potent defense against our adversaries, is you. Your intellect, your ingenuity, your character, and your dedication will carry the day just as it has for nearly two-and-a-half centuries.
I look forward to all we will accomplish together as we continue to advance the health and readiness of our force. We are building on a strong foundation and will ensure that the MHS remains a model of excellence in military and civilian health care.
It’s an honor to serve with you. Your continued service and frequent sacrifices are truly inspirational.
Respectfully,
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Farewell Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Colleagues,
This week has been a challenging one for me personally, saying goodbye to all of you as I prepare to leave this position, and reflecting on all that we have accomplished together. My professional life has been intertwined with the military health community for decades, from serving as the Special Assistant to the ASD HA, to my time with what we then called the TRICARE Management Activity to the privilege I’ve had to serve now as the Acting ASD HA and I am profoundly grateful for that. I have gained far more than I have contributed, especially in the lifelong friendships I’ve made here.
I leave the office today confident in the foundation we’ve laid, confident in the people who will continue to serve, and confident in the ability of the Military Health System to take care of our people.
I believe that there is no higher calling in life than to serve others, and no better way to do that than federal service. So, to all of you, whether you serve in uniform, as a career federal civilian, as a political appointee, as a contractor, or as a combination of all of these, thank you for choosing to dedicate your talents to your country. I am proud to have served alongside you and will always be grateful for your friendship, your advice, and the support you have given me throughout my time here.
As I move into my next chapter, I know that these relationships will endure, and I look forward to keeping up with all you accomplish in the days to come. I wish each of you the very best.
V/R,
Seileen
Seileen M. Mullen
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Here is an article about her career as well:
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 