A native of Norfolk, Va., Rear Admiral Faison received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Wake Forest University and his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed post-graduate training in General Pediatrics at Naval Hospital San Diego and fellowship training in Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics at the University of Washington. He is board certified in Pediatrics and has several publications on neurodevelopmental outcome of premature infants. He is a senior member of the American College of Physician Executives and is currently enrolled in the Master’s of Medical Management Program at the Carnegie-Mellon Institute.
Faison assumed the duties of commander, Naval Medical Center San Diego and Navy Medicine West Aug. 20, 2010. His most recent assignment was to the position of deputy chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, for Current and Future Healthcare Operations. In this capacity, he was responsible to the surgeon general of the Navy for policy and coordination of Navy Medicine healthcare facilities and operations worldwide as well as coordination of medical support activities to Navy and Marine Corps operational forces. Before this assignment, he was commanding officer of Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Navy Medicine’s fourth largest medical facility. He commanded a staff of over 2,300 personnel with an annual budget in excess of $151 million providing care to an eligible beneficiary population of 153,000 and direct medical support to First Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). Despite having the highest operational tempo in Navy Medicine, he expanded services, improved access, and significantly reduced network care costs. At the same time, he implemented processes to attain and sustain the highest individual medical readiness in Navy Medicine. He directed innovative changes in healthcare delivery to dramatically expand Wounded Warrior care and significantly improve active duty mental health services and access, earning highest praise from the I MEF commander, the assistant secretary of the Navy (Health Affairs), and commander, Marine Corps Installations – West, all while providing expanded medical services to support the commandant’s Grow the Force initiative within existing resources through improved efficiency and personnel management. He also provided seamless disaster response and medical support during two Southern California wildfire disasters, providing continuous medical support to over 19,000 evacuated personnel, earning special recognition by the commandant of the Marine Corps. Under his leadership, the command received it’s best inspection results by The Joint Commission in command history.
Faison’s previous assignment was the commander, U.S. Medical Task Force - Kuwait and the commanding officer, U.S. Expeditionary Medical Facility - Kuwait. As commanding officer, U.S. Expeditionary Medical Facility – Kuwait, he led a staff in excess of 350 and was responsible for all DoD healthcare delivery throughout Kuwait and Qatar, as well as specialty referrals from coalition partners and forces in southern Iraq, at the only level III hospital south of Iraq and ten associated clinics scattered throughout the region. Average monthly workload for the command exceeds 19,000 outpatient visits, 125 surgeries, 1900 dental visits, and over 120 medical evacuations. The command overall return to duty rate is 99 percent.
As commander of a Joint Medical Task Force, he led a team of Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel who are responsible for all healthcare services and support for the Kuwait, Qatar, and southern Iraq theaters of operations in support of the Joint and Coalition Forces Land Component commander. He was concurrently responsible to commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, for provision of medical support and assistance to U.S. and Coalition ships in the North Arabian Gulf. Finally, he was responsible for tactical command and control of all medical logistics operations in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. U.S. Medical Task Force - Kuwait responsibilities include healthcare operations and delivery, medical logistics, biomedical repair, preventive medicine, food inspection and veterinary services, medical regulating/patient evacuation, medical intelligence, ground ambulance operations, medical training, medical/mass casualty planning, and other medical missions as necessary. Eight subordinate commands, totaling in excess of 1000 personnel, comprised the task force and included:
U.S. Expeditionary Medical Facility - Kuwait
227th Preventive Medicine Detachment
981st Preventive Medicine Detachment
343rd Ground Ambulance Company
557th Ground Ambulance Company
218th Veterinary Services Detachment
Area Support Group – Kuwait (Medical)
United States Army Medical Materiel Center – Southwest Asia
He earned highest praise from several coalition flag and general officers as well as commander, U.S. Army Central Command / commander, Combined Forces Land Component commander, the commanding general, 377th Theater Support Command, and the deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command for his leadership and performance in a joint and multinational theater.
Before his tour of duty in Kuwait, Faison was deputy commander, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, leading a staff of 6000 with a budget in excess of $400 million delivering care in Navy Medicine’s largest medical facility. He led the command to successfully pass the first ever no notice JCAHO and Medical inspector general survey of a major DoD medical center. Before that assignment, he was the chief information officer for Navy Medicine and clinical executive assistant on the personal staff of the Navy surgeon general. In these roles, he was responsible for strategy, planning, budgeting, and policy for Navy Medicine information management and information technology (IM/IT) systems. As chief information officer, he represented Navy Medicine IM/IT at TRICARE Management Activity, Department of the Navy/DoD, and other organizations. He was the primary advisor to the deputy surgeon general on Triservice IM/IT investments and strategy. At the request of the surgeon general, he developed a strategy and IM/IT investment portfolio for Navy Medicine that was hailed as a model for emulation by Gartner Group and other healthcare industry foundations.
Before reporting to the staff of the surgeon general, he was the group surgeon, 3d Force Service Support Group, Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific and the Optimization champion for III Marine Expeditionary Force. As such, he was the primary medical consultant to the commanding general and supervised medical care provided to over 5,000 Marines and Sailors throughout the Western Pacific and Hawaii. Further, he was also brigade surgeon, III Marine Expeditionary Brigade for Tandem Thrust and other operational deployments. He implemented a new program, Operation Determined Vigilance, to improve operational healthcare, cutting occupational and sports injuries over 93 percent. He implemented the first Marine online medical readiness reporting dashboard for operational commanders and instituted the first network of Sports Medicine clinics in the western pacific.
Prior to service with the Fleet Marine Force, Faison served as director of DoD Telemedicine and director, Navy Medicine Technology Integration Support Office. As such, he coordinated the assessment and integration planning of new and emerging medical practices and technologies for Navy Medicine. He was primary consultant to the Navy surgeon general on emerging medical technologies and medical capital investment planning. An internationally recognized and published expert in telemedicine and medical technology integration, he presented at over 100 international conferences and authored numerous articles on telemedicine. At the request of the president’s advisor on telehealth, he co-authored a book on uses of telemedicine in remote healthcare settings. He also represented DoD at numerous meetings and joint medical partnerships with foreign governments. He helped implement telemedicine in the Greek Navy and was a keynote speaker at the 1999 G8 Medical Summit. He was a primary medical consultant to the Rostropovich Foundation, implementing telemedicine to bring pediatric cancer care to the children of Chernobyl. He was a frequent consultant to the Navy Medicine Strategic Planning Goal Groups and individual medical commands. Other assignments have included director for Clinical Services at U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan; staff pediatrician, Naval Hospital Lemoore, Calif.; radiation health officer/ship’s medical officer, USS Texas (CGN 39); and group medical officer, Amphibious Group Three.
Faison’s personal awards include the Legion of Merit (5 awards); Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards); Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal and numerous unit and other awards.
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