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Physician, Faculty Member and Executive Casscells
Joins U.S. Army Reserve
Cardiologist and biotechnology executive S. Ward Casscells III, M.D., joined the U.S. Army Reserves during a June 6 ceremony at The University of Texas School of Public Health. He was joined by family, friends and colleagues at the enlistment and commissioning ceremony, which included receipt of his rank pins, a first salute and administration of the oath of office by Houston Mayor Bill White.
Casscells, 53, was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps and will be assigned to the Office of the Surgeon General in Virginia.
Mayor White said of Casscells, “He is an individual who is dedicated to service. He serves the community and nation in so many ways. This is just one more way he’ll serve. We’re all proud of him.”
As S.Ward Casscells III, M.D., and his wife, Roxanne, look on, Maj. Christopher Fowler helps Lily Casscells with the placement of rank on her father’s beret after he was sworn into the U.S.Army Reserves as a lieutenant colonel. Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ron Burke
Casscells is vice president for biotechnology at the UT Health Science Center at Houston, the John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and a professor of cardiology in the UT Medical School at Houston.
“The armed services need doctors,” he said. “I ought to do my part, particularly now that the country is at war.”
Casscells cited a confluence of factors that inspired his decision. Last year, he became the first civilian to win the General Maxwell Reid Thurman Award for his work in using advanced technologies to improve emergency medical care.
“When I got up to receive that award, I thought of my father walking across North Africa with Gen. George Patton’s division during World War II. He gave four years of his life to the Army as a young surgeon,” Casscells recalled. Previous military service by a number of respected colleagues was also inspirational.
Casscells regularly will serve a weekend a month and two weeks each summer. He also will be subject to 90-day call-up every two years for eight years.
The Army expressed interest in tapping his expertise in disaster preparedness, prevention and rapid response, and research and planning to address pandemic flu.
“Dr. Casscells has an extensive research background with the Army. He just decided to step up his calling one more time as an Army physician,” said Maj. Christopher Fowler, officer in charge of the Houston Army Medical Department Recruiting Office. “We’re just extremely honored to have a man of such a distinguished medical background join our ranks.”
Casscells is one of the principal architects of the U.S. Army’s DREAMS (Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services) program and the Texas Training and Technology for Trauma and Terrorism program (T5). The DREAMS project integrates realtime video processing and wireless communications technology to link remote medical experts with trauma and disaster victims for telemonitoring and triage. T5, also funded by the Army, builds on DREAMS with a variety of research, training and planning projects.
By Scott Merville, Public Affairs