Casscells Nominated by President Bush
to be Assistant Secretary of Defense
HOUSTON – (Feb. 26, 2007) – President George W. Bush today sent to the Senate his official nomination of S. Ward Casscells III, M.D., vice president for biotechnology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, to be Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs). The White House first announced on Feb. 22 Bush’s intention to nominate Casscells to replace William Winkenwerder Jr., M.D.
S. Ward Casscells III, M.D.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs is responsible for overall supervision of the health and medical affairs of the Department of Defense (DoD). The Secretary serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense for all DoD health policies, programs, and activities, and exercises oversight of all DoD health resources.
"We are very proud of Dr. Casscells' nomination by the President, as we are proud of all of his efforts that have been so very helpful to the Texas Medical Center and the citizens of Texas," said James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston and president-elect of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. “Dr. Casscells is one of the most creative physician-scientists in our country today. He is a dedicated public servant and patriot who will bring his creativity, compassion and dedication to serve our men and women in uniform, our retired military, and their families.”
Casscells, who also is a U.S. Army Reserve colonel, returned last December from a three-month tour of duty in Iraq, where he served as a liaison to the U.S. ambassador to Iraq and the Iraqi health minister to create a protocol for health policy and medical administration in the region.
In June 2005, at the age of 53, Casscells was first commissioned in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps.
Casscells has been deployed to both the Middle East and Asia and to study the avian flu and assess the possibility of a world-wide pandemic. As a result of his work as the U.S. Army Medical Command’s senior medical advisor for avian influenza and pandemic influenza, Casscells was awarded the U. S. Army’s Meritorious Service Medal. Last November, while in Iraq, Casscells received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
Casscells began studying influenza seven years ago after he saw a connection between heart attacks and recent bouts of flu or colds in his cardiac patients.
“One third or so of our heart attack patients said they recently had the flu or a cold so we began to urge them to get flu vaccinations. The medical residents asked me to prove the link, so by 1999 we had data that flu shots reduced the risk of heart attack or stroke,” Casscells said. “We’ve had a hard time getting people to understand the importance of vaccination but we just keep at it. We’ve just been stubborn about it.”
Colonel Casscells at Ibn Sina Hospital (Baghdad), home of the 10th Combat Support Hospital – depicted in "Baghdad ER" and CNN's "Combat Hospital." 9/6/06
In 2004 Casscells became the first civilian to receive the General Maxwell Reid Thurman Award for his work in using new technologies including telemedicine to improve emergency medical care.
Casscells is one of the principal architects of the Army’s DREAMS (Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services) program, which uses technology and real-time video imaging to link remote medical experts with trauma and disaster victims. It can save lives in the case of combat injuries or help reduce the severity of a flu pandemic.
Building on DREAMS is the Texas Training and Technology for Trauma and Terrorism program (T5), which seeks ideas to improve trauma care and reacting to biological threats. On the research side, it works to develop new imaging techniques and the education and training to support them. The operational component includes having teams packed and ready to go at any time.
Casscells has been responding to disasters since the Oklahoma City bombing and was one of the first American doctors to reach Phuket in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami.
He also is The John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine (awarded in Nov. 2000) and a professor of cardiology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He is the associate director for cardiology research at Texas Heart Institute.
Casscells was born March 18, 1952, in Wilmington, DE. He received his B.S. in biology at Yale in 1974, and he graduated from Harvard Medical School magna cum laude in 1979. He also won the Reznick Prize for his research with Nobel Laureate Bernard Lown, M.D.
Dr. Casscells trained in medicine at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and at Harvard Community Health Plan. He passed the board examination in internal medicine in 1982, and completed a cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, which included clinical epidemiology training at the Harvard School of Public Health. He passed the board examination in cardiovascular disease in 1985. After that, Dr. Casscells spent six years in the Cardiology Branch at the National Institutes of Health, followed by a sabbatical year at Scripps Institutes of Medicine and Science in La Jolla, California, working under Nobel Laureate Roger Guillemin, M.D., Ph.D.
Casscells came to Houston in 1992. From 1994 to 2000 he served as the Levy Professor and Chief of Cardiology at UT Medical School and Hermann Hospital (now Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center). He established the President Bush Center for Cardiovascular Health in 1997.
He and his wife Roxanne Bell Casscells, a political consultant, have three children.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Winkenwerder, who has served since Oct. 2001, soon will leave the DoD down and move to a job in the private sector.
See Casscells’ bio online at:
http://biotech.uth.tmc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=92