promotion

FAP & NADDS Graduates – Check the Reserve LCDR Promotion List

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Navy physicians who participate in the FAP & NADDS programs often get promoted off of the reserve list.  Here is the ALNAV for promotion to LCDR.  If any of your friends are on the list, let them know as they often don’t even realize it:

 

UNCLASSIFIED//

ROUTINE

R 021500Z SEP 15

FM SECNAV WASHINGTON DC

TO ALNAV

INFO SECNAV WASHINGTON DC
CNO WASHINGTON DC
CMC WASHINGTON DC

BT
UNCLAS
ALNAV 067/15

MSGID/GENADMIN/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC/-/SEP//

SUBJ/FY-16 NAVY RESERVE LIEUTENANT COMMANDER STAFF CORPS SELECTIONS//

RMKS/1.  I am pleased to announce the following Staff Corps Officers on the 
reserve active-status list for promotion to the permanent grade of Lieutenant 
Commander.

2.  This message is not authority to deliver appointments.  Authority to 
effect promotion will normally be issued by future NAVADMINS requiring 
NAVPERS 1421/7 preparation and forwarding of documents to PERS-806.

3.  Frocking is not authorized for any Officer listed below until specific 
authorization is received per SECNAVINST 1420.2A.

4.  For proper alphabetical order read from left to right on each line.  The 
numbers following each name to the right indicate the relative seniority 
among selectees within each competitive category.  Members are directed to 
verify their select status via BUPERS On-Line.
                           Medical Corps
Aquino Theodore Lee          0005  Bower Paul Edgar             0013
Crosby Mark Isaac            0002  Fitzgerald Steven Matt       0001
Freeman Brian Lee            0007  Kaminsky Michael Edwar       0011
Kulzer Matthew Henry         0008  Mallick Ronobir Ranjan       0003
McCord Caitlin Meghan        0015  Menger Richard Philip        0019
Morrisonponce Daphne P       0016  Philipp Sarah Kathleen       0006
Pride Keth Mackenzie         0012  Pulos Nicholas Alan          0018
Schneider Eric Peter         0004  Stockslager Steven Gre       0010
Thorpe Mary Arbuthnot        0017  Tran Diepdenise Ngoc         0020
Werner John Kent Jr          0014

FY16 LCDR Promotion Board Stats

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Here are the overall stats.  Keep in mind that the promotion opportunity was 100%, meaning that all fully qualified candidates could have been selected for promotion:

# OF PEOPLE # SELECTED % SELECTED
ABOVE ZONE 11 5 45.45%
IN ZONE 212 198 93.40%
BELOW ZONE 473 5 1.06%

 

Here they are broken down by specialty:

# IZ #SEL IZ % SELECT IZ # AZ #SEL AZ % SELECT AZ # BZ #SEL BZ % SEL BZ
FLT SRG 34 27 79.41% 0 0 N/A 115 0 0.00%
RAM 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
ANESTH 8 8 100.00% 1 0 0.00% 2 0 0.00%
SURG 7 7 100.00% 1 0 0.00% 14 0 0.00%
NEURO SURG 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 1 0 0.00%
OB GYN 4 4 100.00% 0 0 N/A 18 1 5.56%
GMO 40 34 85.00% 2 1 50.00% 96 1 1.04%
OPHTH 2 2 100.00% 0 0 N/A 5 0 0.00%
ORTHO 8 8 100.00% 0 0 N/A 10 0 0.00%
OTO 3 3 100.00% 0 0 N/A 4 1 25.00%
URO 4 4 100.00% 0 0 N/A 2 0 0.00%
PREV MED 1 1 100.00% 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
OCC MED 2 2 100.00% 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PHYS MED 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PATH 2 2 100.00% 0 0 N/A 4 0 0.00%
DERM 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 1 0 0.00%
EMERG 10 10 100.00% 0 0 N/A 12 0 0.00%
FAM PRAC 26 25 96.15% 3 1 33.33% 57 2 3.51%
INT MED 18 18 100.00% 2 2 100.00% 42 0 0.00%
NEURO 1 1 100.00% 0 0 N/A 1 0 0.00%
UMO 14 14 100.00% 1 0 0.00% 40 0 0.00%
PEDS 16 16 100.00% 1 1 100.00% 28 0 0.00%
NUC MED 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PSYCH 9 9 100.00% 0 0 N/A 17 0 0.00%
DIAG RAD 3 3 100.00% 0 0 N/A 4 0 0.00%
RAD ONC 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
TOTAL 212 198 93.40% 11 5 45.45% 473 5 1.06%

Sailor of 2025 Talent Management Initiatives

Posted on Updated on

There are some exciting and interesting initiatives underway to modernize the Navy’s personnel system.  There have been many articles on this in Navy Times.  Here is one article recently released by the Military Officers Association of America.

In addition, here are some slides that describe this initiative:

PERS-4 Fleet Engagement

The changes that physicians should be aware of, some already finalized and others representing potential changes, are:

  1. Pay and bonus changes that would reward individual talent rather than treat everyone the same.
  2. A removal of promotion zones.  No longer would records be stamped as below-zone, in-zone, or above-zone during promotion boards.  This would switch to a system that rewards talent and milestones rather than longevity.  It would allow those that progress faster to promote faster and no longer have to “wait their turn” as well as remove the stigma that some feel is associated with being above-zone.
  3. Expansion of opportunities to diversify your career.  Examples include an expansion of the career intermission program and fellowships providing officers with the opportunity to spend some time in civilian industry so that they can bring best practices back to the Navy.
  4. An information technology (IT) investment in a new, more transparent personnel management system.  Ideas I have heard mentioned include eliminating all of the various computer systems that exist and consolidating them into one so that you don’t have to update your record in 20 different ways.  An assignments system has also been mentioned that would allow officers to see all the billets available and apply for the ones that they want, giving commands the ability to pick which officers they want.
  5. Improved co-location policy.  I have no details on this one, and right now I feel the detailers do a pretty good job co-locating dual active duty couples, but others may disagree.
  6. Changes to the physical fitness assessment/body composition assessment (PFA/BCA), which were detailed in this NAVADMIN.  This includes expanded fitness center hours.
  7. Changes to the maternity leave policy, detailed in this NAVADMIN, and expanded child development center hours.

Keep in mind that while some of these changes have been released already, like the PFA/BCA and maternity leave policies, the rest are works in progress.  I think it is interesting, though, to see that the DoD and Navy leadership are interesting in modernizing our personnel system and management.  As a detailer who writes orders on a DOS-based system, I can assure you that modernization is sorely needed.

FY16 O5 Promotion Board Takeaways

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Now that the FY16 O5 promotion board results have been released and I’ve had a chance to review a number of officer records, here are my O5 promotion board takeaways. If you’d like to review the statistics, click here:

https://mccareer.org/2015/07/18/fy16-cdr-promotion-board-statistics/

Promotion Board Takeaways

If these things happen to you, you are very likely never going to promote to O5:

  • Any PFA/BCA failures.
  • Legal issues, such as a DUI or any other legal trouble.
  • Failure to become board certified.

There are other things that could happen to you that make it difficult but not impossible to promote. They include:

  • Coming into zone while in GME. There were people who promoted while in GME, but those lucky few broke out in large competitive groups before or during GME. Those who have non-observed (NOB) fitreps before the board, such as those in full-time outservice training, tend not to promote.
  • Spending too much time in the fleet as a GMO, flight surgeon, or UMO. This is mostly because it causes you to come into zone while you are still in GME, and is worsened if your residency is long.
  • Never getting a competitive early promote (EP) fitrep. Many officers who fail to select for O5 have never had a competitive EP fitrep as an O4. This can be because they are stationed places without competitive groups and get 1/1 fitreps, or it can be because they were in a competitive group and did not break out and get an EP.
  • Receiving potentially adverse fitreps. This most commonly happens when you are at an operational command and your reporting senior is not someone who is used to ranking medical corps officers, although it could happen for other reasons (like your reporting senior felt you deserved this type of fitrep). The most common thing would be if there is a competitive group of 2 officers but both are given must promote (MP) fitreps instead of 1 getting an EP and the other the MP. When both get an MP, it reflects poorly on both officers unless the reason for this is CLEARLY explained in the fitrep narrative, which it often is not. The other thing that happens is that a reporting senior gives you a 1/1 MP instead of a 1/1 EP. If you are ever getting a 1/1 fitrep, make sure you get an EP. You should consider getting a 1/1 MP an adverse fitrep. If there is no way around this, often because the reporting senior has a policy that they don’t give newly promoted officers an EP, make sure that this policy is clear in the fitrep narrative.
  • Having a declining fitrep. Mostly this happens when you go from getting an EP to an MP on your fitrep under the same reporting senior. If it is because you changed competitive groups, like you went from being a resident to a staff physician, that is understandable and not a negative. If you didn’t change competitive groups, though, make sure the reason you declined is explained.
  • Making it obvious to the promotion board that you didn’t update your record. The most obvious ways a promotion board will know you didn’t update your record is if you don’t have a photo in your current rank, your officer summary record (OSR) is missing degrees that you obviously have (like your MD or DO), or if many of the sections of your OSR are either completely blank or required updating by the board recorders. Remember that although promotion board recorders will correct your record for you, anything they do and any corrections they make are annotated to the board. While a few corrections are OK, you don’t want a blank record that the recorders had to fill in. It demonstrates that you didn’t update your record.

So who actually promotes to O5? In general, the officer who promotes to O5 is:

  • Board certified.
  • Finished GME early enough that they had time to break out with a competitive EP fitrep as a staff physician.
  • Has a demonstrated history of excellence as an officer. In other words, whenever they are in a competitive group, they successfully break out and get an EP fitrep. Being average is just not good enough anymore.
  • They have no PFA failures, legal problems, declining fitreps, or potentially adverse fitreps.
  • They have updated their record, and if they previously failed to select they reviewed their record with their detailer and actively worked to improve it.

FY16 LCDR Promotion List Released

Posted on

Congratulations to the following officers who were selected for promotion to LCDR:

Medical Corps

Abitria Richard R            0003  Afuhleflore Chantal Na       0044            
Aleid Haydar Mohali          0034  Algert Daniel B              0104            
Algert Lesley Paz            0068  Anderson William Charl       0198            
Armstrong Cody Chance        0015  Aukstuolis Kestutis An       0139            
Aurigemma David F            0073  Aurigemma Kristen Dian       0097            
Bailey Mary Mercedes         0191  Baker Neal Jordan            0150            
Baquir Angelo B              0087  Bauer Matthew Paul Per       0148            
Bayly Terrence D             0083  Benjaminson Jeremy Eva       0178            
Bermudez Daniela Janel       0157  Bilbao Michelle Cifone       0170            
Boni Benjamin Daniel         0177  Boucher Jeromy Travis        0028            
Brandon Elise Cooper         0137  Brock Marie Elizabethn       0149            
Brown Taylor Adam            0055  Bruce Timothy Peter          0197            
Buckley Kerry L              0053  Buckley Ryan Thomas          0041            
Buckley Sarah Basha          0152  Bullard Susan Ashley         0036            
Burbanodelara Patrick        0138  Burgess Matthew Daniel       0037            
Butler Nathan Henry          0102  Butler William Jason         0029            
Buttolph Amelia Harris       0205  Bylund William E             0084            
Carter Kristopher Ever       0115  Cassleman Kristi Linne       0188            
Chang Allen Duanhsu          0162  Chi Benjamin B               0096            
Cochran Grant K              0063  Cole Geoffrey John           0057  
Corrado Richele Lynn         0027  Cripe Paul                   0079  
Cruz Chris Albert            0146  Darling Nicholas Andre       0200  
Davis Christopher Alan       0108  Dean Daniel Joseph Jr        0174            
Deboer Derek Lee             0082  Degeus John Benjamin         0094            
Delacruz Andrea Faye         0156  Derevianko Victoria Ma       0105            
Digeorge Nicholas Will       0169  Douglas Brigham Lee          0193            
Elek Steven IV               0172  Engkulawy Jennifer Kar       0163            
Evans John Keith II          0180  Faught Sara Kathryn          0144            
Fiaseu Kaycee Rose           0204  Filipescu Radu               0020            
Flowers Lynn Morrissey       0155  Fofi Stephanie Marie         0145            
Frasier Samuel Dennis        0208  Gage Michele M               0086            
Ganacias Karen Gayle         0192  Garciasalas Alejandro        0093            
Gaylord Bethany Kay          0117  Generoso Judith Cather       0130            
Gillespie John W             0075  Gilman Luke Anthony          0132            
Gower Jonathan Robert        0066  Graham Jennifer Nicole       0107            
Greene Tatiana Morales       0186  Gutweiler Alex August        0025            
Haight Sean Patrick          0175  Hall Kent Michael            0190            
Hamersley Erin Rae Spa       0206  Hastings Todd Glen           0154            
Hauck Heather Noelle         0095  Hauff Niels M                0050            
Healy Mae Wu                 0129  Hemerly Nathan James         0173            
Henebry Andrew D             0046  Henry Sadie Mar              0004            
Hodell Evan Mel              0014  Hoffman Marshall Mathe       0062            
Hogan Patricia Elisabe       0142  Holleman Kevin Troy          0168            
Holzhouser Jamon Aaron       0016  Jain Ankush Kumar            0171            
Jardonaites Michelle D       0090  Jaskiewicz Jennifer Ly       0185            
Jing Ling                    0006  Johns Michael Wayne          0045            
Karris Bianca Cabrera        0133  Khoo Di                      0052            
Kilimentmihaileanu Iul       0021  Kuckel Daniel P              0035            
Kunkel Scott Alan            0196  Lafferty Casey Elizabe       0176            
Lagrew Joseph Edward II      0099  Larsen Eric Christian        0012            
Lawson Scott Michael         0122  Le Joseph An                 0141            
Le Tuvien                    0195  Lee Blair C                  0120            
Lehmann Benjamin John        0143  Lewis William A              0030            
Lipscomb Kathryn Ann         0118  Lomeli Matthew Charles       0164            
Lopez Lance Anthony          0140  Lopreiato Joseph O           0128            
Love Christopher Scott       0010  Mak Heather Kimberly         0136            
Maliakel Paul G              0064  Mancusiungaro Andrew E       0043            
Manosalva Rodolfo Enri       0158  Marquardt Joseph Phili       0165            
Marshall Michael Thoma       0060  Maruszak Mary Brigid         0187            
Mathew Manoj                 0026  Mathurin Jean Gilnord        0024            
Mattingly John C             0072  McClure Robert Ian           0007            
McCullough Jeremy Davi       0189  McDonnell John Carroll       0167            
McPeak Lesley Armbrust       0061  Melzer Jonathan M            0089            
Meunier Nicole Jean          0069  Michel Eric Brian            0121            
Michel Shannon Scully        0127  Monson Michael James E       0166            
Munoz Beau Jeffrey           0031  Myles David Eric             0201            
Naff Jessica Lynn            0011  Navarro Carlos Alberto       0048            
Nelson Mikal John            0042  Nieves Maria Lizette         0005            
Obrien Brendan Stephen       0077  Oladipo Olamide Johnso       0135            
Olson Erik Joseph            0051  Osborne Todd Graham          0013            
Overbey Jamie Kathleen       0147  Owens Steffanie Michel       0100            
Pannier Aaron Granvill       0092  Partovi Christopher Re       0032            
Perrinez Phillip Rober       0113  Perry Alexandra V            0088            
Peterson Brandon Rober       0119  Powers Michael F             0159            
Prokop Michael Aaron         0184  Reynders William Josep       0116            
Roberson Nolen F             0080  Roden Christopher Dona       0183            
Ross Warren Leslie           0111  Russell Matthew Craig        0008  
Ruttenberg Todd Michae       0101  Santiago Gabriel F           0049  
Sardina Jonathan Micha       0181  Sasovetz Scott Joseph        0059  
Schonau Jesse Taylor         0207  Scully Stephenie Ashle       0058  
Seeger Daniel Bradley        0123  Shanahan Erik Edmond         0071  
Siebenaler Joseph Fran       0179  Siegel Joseph Aaron          0039  
Simmons Brett Patrick        0112  Singer Jacob Emerson         0040  
Skeehan Christopher Do       0134  Smith Jennifer Lauren        0085  
Snow Ryan William            0161  Solis Ana Lidia              0023  
Sone Peter Lee               0056  Songer Adam G                0081  
Speicher Matthew Vanst       0199  Staeheli Gregory R           0047  
Stange Christopher Jam       0203  Stanila Vlad Vasile          0022  
Stapleton Robert Edwar       0202  States Leith Jason           0182  
Steele Helen Marie           0194  Stein Loretta Lindsay        0125  
Stonegarza Kristi Kim        0009  Stratton Michael Slade       0151  
Stromberg Ines Haruni        0131  Talise Paul C                0076  
Taylor Jacob Marshall        0038  Toupin Brian                 0103  
Trevino Ruth Ann             0124  Uber Ian Chauncey            0067  
Valadao Jason Matteo         0018  Wagner Kari Lynn             0110  
Wagner Scott C               0106  Waite Kenneth Barry Jr       0126  
Wallace James D              0078  Walsh John C                 0074  
Waterman Adam Thomas         0070  Westbrook James Wesley       0017  
Wheelan Ann Victoria         0019  Wildi Jonathan Douglas       0160  
Wilson Jessica Ann           0098  Wilson Kevin F               0114  
Wolf Michael E               0054  Wooldridge Bryan Edmun       0109  
Zelinskas David John         0153            

FY16 CAPT Promotion Board Statistics

Posted on

People really enjoyed seeing the FY16 CDR promotion stats and I got requests for the same stats for the CAPT promotion board.  Here they are:

# OF PEOPLE # SELECTED % SELECTED
ABOVE ZONE 155 11 7.10%
IN ZONE 101 39 38.61%
BELOW ZONE 164 1 0.61%

 

# IZ #SEL IZ % SELECT IZ # AZ #SEL AZ % SELECT AZ # BZ #SEL BZ % SEL BZ
FLT SRG 0 0 N/A 9 0 0.00% 0 0 N/A
RAM 2 0 0.00% 9 0 0.00% 3 0 0.00%
ANESTH 13 2 15.38% 10 0 0.00% 13 0 0.00%
SURG 6 3 50.00% 9 0 0.00% 7 0 0.00%
NEURO SURG 0 0 N/A 2 0 0.00% 2 0 0.00%
OB GYN 4 3 75.00% 11 1 9.09% 10 0 0.00%
GMO 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
OPHTH 0 0 N/A 2 0 0.00% 5 0 0.00%
ORTHO 7 2 28.57% 10 0 0.00% 12 0 0.00%
OTO 3 1 33.33% 2 0 0.00% 8 0 0.00%
URO 0 0 N/A 1 0 0.00% 4 0 0.00%
PREV MED 1 0 0.00% 3 0 0.00% 2 0 0.00%
OCC MED 4 3 75.00% 4 0 0.00% 4 0 0.00%
PHYS MED 1 0 0.00% 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PATH 2 1 50.00% 9 0 0.00% 5 0 0.00%
DERM 5 2 40.00% 0 0 N/A 2 0 0.00%
EMERG 8 4 50.00% 7 0 0.00% 11 0 0.00%
FAM PRAC 9 4 44.44% 28 4 14.29% 15 0 0.00%
INT MED 18 7 38.89% 10 1 10.00% 20 1 5.00%
NEURO 0 0 N/A 2 0 0.00% 0 0 N/A
UMO 4 0 0.00% 1 0 0.00% 2 0 0.00%
PEDS 4 2 50.00% 9 2 22.22% 9 0 0.00%
NUC MED 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PSYCH 4 2 50.00% 2 0 0.00% 8 0 0.00%
DIAG RAD 6 3 50.00% 14 3 21.43% 21 0 0.00%
RAD ONC 0 0 N/A 1 0 0.00% 1 0 0.00%
TOTAL 101 39 38.61% 155 11 7.10% 164 1 0.61%

FY16 CDR Promotion Board Statistics

Posted on

Here are the FY16 CDR promotion board statistics.  After a few more weeks of reviewing records of those who failed to select, I’ll have some specific promotion board takeaways.

 

# OF PEOPLE # SELECTED % SELECTED
ABOVE ZONE 113 24 21.24%
IN ZONE 135 71 52.59%
BELOW ZONE 370 0 0.00%

 

1Z FAILED TO SELECT IZ SELECTS AZ SELECTS IN ZONE % SELECTED IN ZONE TOTAL IZ & AZ SELECTS IZ & AZ PERCENT SELECTED IZ & AZ
FLT SRG 1 1 1 2 50% 9 2 22%
RAM 0 2 0 2 100% 10 2 20%
ANESTH 4 9 4 13 69% 23 13 57%
SURG 5 3 4 8 38% 19 7 37%
NEURO SURG 0 0 1 0 N/A 1 1 100%
OBGYN 1 7 1 8 88% 11 8 73%
GMO 0 0 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
OPHTH 1 2 0 3 67% 3 2 67%
ORTHO 3 4 1 7 57% 13 5 38%
OTO 1 0 0 1 0% 3 0 0%
UROLOGY 1 1 0 2 50% 4 1 25%
PREV MED 3 4 1 7 57% 11 5 45%
OCC MED 3 2 1 5 40% 10 3 30%
PHY MED 1 0 0 1 0% 1 0 0%
PATH 4 0 1 4 0% 8 1 13%
DERM 1 1 1 2 50% 5 2 40%
EMERG 8 3 3 11 27% 19 6 32%
FAM MED 4 10 2 14 71% 30 12 40%
INT MED 7 6 1 13 46% 17 7 41%
NEURO 3 1 0 4 25% 5 1 20%
UMO 1 0 0 1 0% 1 0 0%
PEDS 4 4 1 8 50% 14 5 36%
NUC MED 0 0 0 0 N/A 0 0 N/A
PSYCH 1 4 0 5 80% 11 4 36%
RAD 6 7 1 13 54% 19 8 42%
RAD ONC 1 0 0 1 0% 1 0 0%

 

Click on this to make it larger, if needed:

Specialty Graphs

 

O5 Promotion List Released

Posted on

Below this message is the O5 promotion list.  For those that were selected, congratulations.  Now that you are a CDR(s), you should strongly consider mixing your career up a little.  No matter what you do for the next few years as a junior CDR, you’re likely to get a promotable (P) on your fitreps if you are in a competitive group.  This fact makes it a great time to PCS, moving overseas or to a senior operational role if you haven’t done those tours yet.  It also makes it a great time to apply for a fellowship, go to a War College, take on a job that you will enjoy but will get you 1/1 fitreps that could hurt you later in your career, or pursue anything else you can think of that is rank appropriate.  Then after you spend a few years doing this, you can return to a command, try to get a senior leadership role and competitive fitreps, and give it your best shot to promote to O6.

If you did not promote, it is time to regroup.  See my June 21st post entitled “You Failed to Promote…Now What?”  Keep in mind, that most physicians are offered continuation until year 20 as a LCDR, so you likely have a few more chances to promote.

Once I have some time to analyze the O5 board results and get some statistics, I’ll do a more detailed post with O5 promotion board takeaways.

FY-16 ACTIVE-DUTY NAVY COMMANDER STAFF CORPS SELECTIONS

Could a Master’s Degree Get You Promoted?

Posted on Updated on

When discussing why they failed to promote, one of the more common reasons that officers give is that they were unable to get a leadership position. When I ask them how they prepared themselves for these positions and what they did to improve their chances of getting one, they often don’t have much to say. Frankly, they didn’t do anything “extra” or above and beyond their normal duties to prepare for and get a leadership position.

Don’t be one of those officers.

The recipe for promotion is fairly simple. Superior performance in leadership positions leads to early promote (EP) fitreps, which leads to promotion. As promotion gets more difficult, the competition for leadership positions is likely to increase, and officers need to find a way to differentiate themselves from the crowd, increasing the chance they’ll get leadership positions. Obtaining a master’s degree can be one of the things that will distinguish you from other physicians and can dramatically increase the chances that you are competitive for career advancing positions.

What Kind of Degree Should You Consider Getting?

This depends on your career goals. If you want to become a leader in research or global health engagement, an area of increased focus in the Navy, you probably want to get a Master in Public Health (MPH) or similar degree. If you want to become a residency or fellowship director, a master’s degree in adult or medical education would fit the bill. If you want to become an operational leader, attending a war college would make sense. And if you want to become a clinical administrator or pursue executive medicine, obtaining a management degree, such as a Master in Business Administration (MBA), Master in Medical Management (MMM), or Master in Healthcare Administration (MHA), would make sense to me.

How Can You Get a Master’s Degree While on Active Duty?

There are many ways you can do this, but the most common include:

  1. Complete a fellowship that includes a master’s degree. Some fellowships either include or have the option of obtaining a MPH, such as the Global Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Fellowship. I also know of multiple officers who asked the Graduate Medical Education Selection Board for an additional year of fellowship to obtain a degree or simply for permission to obtain a degree alone. What are the chances this will be granted? Well I’m sure the chances change from year to year, but they are zero if you don’t ask.
  2. Complete the distance learning Executive MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School. This is how I got my MBA for the cost of books alone, and I think the program is excellent. You have to go to Monterey for 1 week at the beginning of the 2-year program, but after that all classes are held in person at remote sites via video conferencing. You have to have 2 years of time-on-station left at your current command, so you have to apply to start right after you get to a command or get a new set of orders. In addition, your CO has to sign a letter stating that you’ll get the time to attend classes once per week for 8-9 hours and that you are not slated to deploy. You can deploy once you start the program, but you can’t be on the hook when you apply.
  3. Use Navy Tuition Assistance (https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/ta_info.aspx#eligibility) to pay for a degree. The tuition rates they pay will not completely cover more expensive degrees, but every little bit helps.
  4. Apply for the Navy Career Intermission Program and take time off to get a degree.
  5. Attend a war college. Intermediate colleges are for officers who are O4 or below, while senior college is for O5 and above. If you’re interested, contact your detailer.
  6. Pay for it yourself and do it in your free time on-line or in person. One program to look into is offered by the American Association for Physician Leadership (http://www.physicianleaders.org/education/programs/masters). By taking some CME you can then enroll in various patient safety and management degrees that are all physician focused. The on-line University of Massachusetts healthcare focused MBA that they offer is the most reasonably priced MBA that I could find that is accredited by the top business school accreditation body. If you want a fast MBA (but pricey), look into the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA program (http://pemba.utk.edu).

While committing to a master’s degree program will take major time and effort, that is the point. It is a well-recognized way to demonstrate to the Navy that you’ve made a serious commitment to your professional development and could go a long way toward giving your next interview for a leadership position.