Excellence in military medicine: ‘Your work saves lives and personifies readiness’

Military medical leaders, professionals, and civilians who advance warfighter health were recognized at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation’s Heroes of Military Medicine Awards for “laying the next foundation stones, and reinforcing the very groundwork of military medicine for generations to come,” said Keith Bass, assistant secretary of war for health affairs.

“Your work saves lives and personifies readiness. The work we recognize this evening is not just invaluable — it is a cornerstone of our nation’s strength, safeguarding the health and well-being of our warfighters and their families,” Bass said at the annual ceremony held May 7, 2026, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

The foundation’s annual awards recognize outstanding contributions of Military Health System personnel for their excellence and selfless dedication while serving the nation's wounded, ill, and injured service members, veterans, and civilians and their families.

Gen. Christopher Mahoney, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called warfighter health professionals “the quiet architects of our fighting force.”

“Military medicine is not a derivative of readiness. It's not adjacent to readiness. It is readiness,” stressed Mahoney. “You don't just patch wounds … you restore hope when we’re in the darkest corners of the earth. You carry the physical and emotional weight of our nation's sons and daughters, ensuring those who put everything on the line have a fighting chance to make it home.”

Heroes of military medicine honorees

“Today’s medical breakthroughs are built on the legacy of giants,” Bass said. “Tonight, we recognize six individuals who are boldly carrying that legacy forward.”

Medical professionals from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Public Health Service, and the military medical civilian workforce were honored. They are:

U.S. Army: Maj. (Dr.) Erika Page

Page is an emergency medicine physician assigned to the 158th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade of the Arizona Army National Guard, and is a full-time emergency medicine physician in Tuba City, Arizona. She entered the National Guard as a direct commission in September 2021 with the rank of captain.

From October 2023 to July 2024, she was mobilized to Operation Spartan Shield in the U.S. Central Command area of operations with Task Force Sentinel. She served as the task force surgeon and medical operations officer throughout the deployment, overseeing the development of three physician assistants and the continuous operation of three Role 1s. In January 2024, she was the lead medical officer at Tower 22, Jordan, when a one-way drone attack resulted in three killed in action and over 70 wounded.

U.S. Navy: Chief Hospital Corpsman Robert Murphy

Murphy is currently assigned to Naval Warfare Advanced Training Command in Coronado, California, where he is the sole medical representative in the detachment.

Prior to his current assignment, he was the senior medical department representative with the Undersea Rescue Command, leading numerous international operations. Previously, he attended the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center and the Naval Deep Sea Diving Independent Duty Corpsman School, served with the Undersea Rescue Command, and was stationed at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 in Pearl City, Hawaii.

U.S. Air Force: Lt. Col. (Dr.) Eric Meyer

Meyer is the chief medical officer, 52nd Medical Group, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. He is responsible for delivering $26 million in annual healthcare and directs a team of 18 personnel across safety, quality, credentialing, patient advocacy, case management, and healthcare integration.

Prior to his current assignment, Meyer served as the psychiatry consultant to the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General and the deputy director of Air Force Psychological Health at the Defense Health Headquarters. He has previously taught at the Uniformed Services University and served as the psychiatry clerkship director and neuroscience module director at the school.

He was inducted into the U.S. Army’s Order of Military Medical Merit and recognized as the Defense Health Agency’s Air Force Hero of Military Medicine in 2026.

U.S. Coast Guard: Capt. (Dr.) Joseph Perez

Perez serves as the acting chief of the United States Coast Guard’s Operational Medicine and Quality Improvement Division, acting USCG Atlantic Area Surgeon, and the chief medical officer of the USCG Health, Safety, Work Life Service Center. He also serves as the senior medical executive and chief medical officer of the USCG District 1 and the senior medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard clinic in Sector, New York.

He is a family medicine physician, certified physician executive, and flight surgeon, and has served with the U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Navy. Perez has also supported assignments to the U.S. southwest border, Ebola screenings at U.S. airports, and medical efforts following the deadly earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also helped stand up Camp Delta Clinic and care for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

U.S. Public Health Service: Capt. (Dr.) Abby Shannon

Shannon is the senior dental executive at the U.S. Coast Guard training center in Cape May, New Jersey, where she is responsible for the dental health and readiness of boot camp recruits and active duty service members, and for the management of the dental program at the U.S. Coast Guard’s largest clinic.

She joined the USPHS while working at the Indian Health Service in Sisseton, South Dakota. She transferred to U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. She then served as the senior dental executive of the National Capital Region. In this position, she provided and coordinated comprehensive dental care to over 2,500 U.S. Coast Guard active duty and Reserve Component members across 22 units, 23 detached units, 17 individual directorates, and 14 U.S. embassies, while also supervising care at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard dental clinic.

Civilian: Dr. James Quinn

Quinn is the associate program director of the Allergy/Immunology Fellowship at the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, one of the largest and most respected allergy/immunology programs in the country. He has trained over 80 allergy and immunology fellows who have maintained the program’s 100% board pass rate since 1995. A professor of medicine at USU, he has received board certification in internal medicine, allergy/immunology, and clinical laboratory immunology. Following his retirement in 2009, he serves as a public servant at Wilford Hall Ambulatory Center.

With more than 60,000 civilians working in military medicine, noted Vice Adm. Darin Via, director of the DHA, “Quinn is a model of what our quiet civilian medical heroes look like. An expert in his field, researcher, author, speaker, above all, mentor, and teacher.”

Acknowledging excellence for the warfighter

Mahoney concluded the ceremony by emphasizing the work of these professionals is the “lifeblood of the joint force.”

“Tonight is not just about thanking you for your science, it’s about acknowledging the fundamental truth: Without your relentless dedication, the rest of us could not do our jobs,” he said.