Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho is currently serving as the 43rd Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command. Her previous positions include Deputy Surgeon General, Office of The Surgeon General, Falls Church, VA, from 2010 to 2011; 23rd Chief of the US Army Nurse Corps, from 2008-2011; Commander, Western Regional Medical Command, Fort Lewis, Washington, from 2008 to 2010; Commander, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Washington, from 2008 to 2009; Commander, Walter Reed Health Care System, Washington D.C., from 2007 to 2008; and Commander, DeWitt Health Care Network, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, from 2004 to 2006.
As a Registered Nurse, Lieutenant General Horoho earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982. She received her Master of Science degree as a Clinical Trauma Nurse Specialist from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a resident graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, where she earned a second Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy. Other military assignments include Staff Nurse on a multi-service specialty ward, Staff and Head Nurse of a Level III emergency department, Evans Army Community Hospital, Fort Carson, Colorado; Nurse Counselor, 1st Recruiting Brigade (Northeast) with duty at Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Recruiting Battalions; Head Nurse of a 22-bed emergency department, Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Chief Nurse and Hospital Commander of a 500-bed field hospital, 249th General Hospital, Fort Gordon, Georgia; Assistant Branch Chief, Army Nurse Corps Branch, United States Total Army Personnel Command, Alexandria, Virginia; Assistant Deputy for Healthcare Management Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; Deputy Commander for Nursing and Commander of the DeWitt Health Care Network, Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and Deputy Commander for Nursing, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, Washington, D.C. In 2011, Lieutenant General Horoho deployed with I Corps, as the Special Assistant to the Commander, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Kabul Afghanistan.
Recognitions include being selected in 1993 by “The Great 100” as one of the top one hundred nurses in the State of North Carolina. In the same year, she was also selected as Fort Bragg’s Supervisor of the Year. She deployed to Haiti with the Army’s first Health Facility Assessment Team. In 1998, she co-authored a chapter on training field hospitals that was published by the U.S. Army Reserve Command Surgeon. Lieutenant General Horoho was honored on December 3, 2001, by Time Life Publications for her actions at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. On September 14, 2002, she was among 15 nurses selected by the American Red Cross and Nursing Spectrum to receive national recognition as a “Nurse Hero.” In 2007, she was honored as a University of Pittsburgh Legacy Laureate. In April 2009, she was selected as the USO’s “Woman of the Year,” and in May 2009, she became an affiliate faculty with Pacific Lutheran University School of Nursing, Tacoma, Washington. In May 2010, the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences appointed her as Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School of Nursing. In 2011, University of North Carolina School of Nursing selected her as the Alumna of the Year.
Lieutenant General Horoho’s awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 OLC), the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (6 OLC), Army Commendation Medal (3 OLC), Army Achievement Medal (1 OLC), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal and various service and unit awards. She served as the Head Nurse of Womack’s Emergency Department when the hospital was awarded the Superior Unit Citation during the Pope AFB Crash in 1994. She is also authorized to wear the DA Staff Badge and is the recipient of the Order of Military Medical Merit Medallion.