The Gateway

I’m honored to join the MC4 team as its fifth product manager (PM). The program has an acclaimed history and a laudatory reputation. Indeed, its hallmark is a highly motivated, educated, and dedicated professional staff of military, government and contract personnel, keen on driving innovative solutions for our warriors. As a Medical Service Corps officer, I’ve served in almost every level of the Army, and know full well the immense contributions of the medical community to our Army and nation. My primary role is to lead and align: strategy to mission, mission to functions, functions to tasks, and tasks to resources.

Foremost, the Soldier remains the centerpiece of our Army. Our efforts must deliver a quality integrated system that is operationally relevant, effective and of high value. To achieve this, we will continue to refine requirements, forge enduring relationships with key stakeholders and promote partnerships with whom we share mutual interests.

MC4 remains focused on the continuum of health and the capabilities necessary to electronically document care, manage medical logistics and provide situational awareness. It’s because of past collaboration that the electronic medical record (EMR) system is what it is today. Providing training at all echelons, expanding use in deployed and garrison environments with as many users as possible will benefit Soldiers and the medical community. Tantamount to this success is ensuring timely and responsive system support, while leveraging best practices and proven concepts to sustain units worldwide. Equipping our medical professionals with the right tools for the right job at the right time so every Soldier has a lifelong medical record is what we’re here for.

Change is constant. On the horizon, we face some big challenges as the Army plans for the drawdown in Afghanistan, and once again rebalances the force and its enablers. I must confess, I once had grand visions of upgrading MC4 to “MC5” but the looming fiscal reality cautions that we may be lucky enough to avoid the “MC Hammer” to preserve the program from becoming “MC3.”

In my mind, there’s a big difference between outputs and outcomes, and with our renewed focus on impact and partnerships, we’ll be focusing our energies on responsibly equipping Soldiers with the tools, methods and data they need to make a difference in Army medicine.

MC4 remains undaunted. I’m looking forward to serving the Army in this new capacity and looking forward to working with our customers and partners as we journey on this path together. I’m an open book and want your honest feedback about our initiatives and products. What are we doing right? Where can we improve upon? What are we not doing that we need to do?

Team MC4!