News & Information - The Mercury - February 2009 Mercury

by Jerry Harben

COL Peter E. Nielsen, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Madigan Army Medical Center, received The Surgeon General's Award for Military Academic Excellence (The Lewis Aspey Mologne Award) at the Army Plenary Session of the 2008 Joint Service Graduate Medical Education Selection Board.

	COL Peter E. Nielsen

Honored with The Surgeon General's Physician Recognition Awards were LTC James L. Furgerson, director of the cardiovascular disease fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center; MAJ Matthew S. Griffith, an infectious disease physician at Brooke; and CPT Jeffrey B. Lanier, a Family medicine physician at Fort Benning, Ga., MEDDAC.

Nielsen serves as an adjunct associate professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and as a clinical associate professor at the University of Washington. In 2007 he received the Richard A. Crone Award as the outstanding physician educator at Madigan. He also has received the American Academy of Family Physicians award for excellence in resident teaching three times and the MG Kenyon award for outstanding research by a Madigan physician twice. He is a Diplomate in the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

	LTC James L. Furgerson

He was responsible for institution of the first simulation labs at Madigan, and donated honorariums to help buy supplies for residents to use in operative simulation labs. He also is known as an innovator of the electronic obstetrical chart, holding two patents.

Furgerson heads the largest fellowship program in the military and one of the largest cardiology training programs in the nation, with 24 Army and Air Force students, and has received the outstanding resident teacher, outstanding fellow teacher and outstanding faculty member awards. He gave leadership to a project to bring cardiac computed tomography to Brooke, resulting in a 75 percent reduction in catheterizations among active duty Soldiers. He received the Bronze Star Medal for service with the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq during 2007.

	MAJ Matthew S. Griffith

Ferguson is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology.

Griffith published seven peer-reviewed articles while still in fellowship training, concentrating research projects on Acinetobacter and other resistant pathogens. After completing fellowship training, he postponed his boards to lead a combat casualty research team to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, for six months. During that time he facilitated development of 21 research protocols, consulted with the Multi-National Corps surgeon as Iraqi Medical Research Director, and served as the hospital's infectious disease consultant.

Griffith is a Diplomate in the American Board of Internal Medicine, and in 2007 received Brooke's Commander's Award for Housestaff Scientific Research.

	CPT Jeffrey B. Lanier

Lanier deployed to Baghdad last year as surgeon to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment. In Iraq he established a pediatric burn treatment clinic that saw 1,688 children, successfully treating cases as severe as deep partial thickness burns covering 60 percent of total body surface area. He also established a pharmacy, lab and X-ray section at his Level 1 facility so Soldiers could avoid hazardous travel to higher facilities for tests and treatment. His clinic performed more than 4,000 patient encounters. Lanier is a Diplomate in the American Board of Family Medicine.

From the February 2009 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication.