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AFMC professional wins national health care award

  • Published
  • By Brian Brackens
  • AFMC Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Lt. Col. Rob Nyquist, command public health officer in Air Force Materiel Command's Surgeon General Directorate, was recently named the recipient of the William Gorgas Preventive Medicine Award by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

Each year AMSUS selects an individual from the military health community who has demonstrated leadership and excellence in preventive medical care.

During his time at AFMC, Nyquist developed a mentoring program for health professionals across the command and was influential in creating the command-wide Civilian Workforce Immunizations Program.

"Historically we've given flu vaccinations to military members in the command and civilians had to wait until the military was finished, to get their flu shot," he said. "Last year was the first year that we received money to purchase vaccinations to put our civilian workforce in line with military members at the same time. We depend on our civilians to be at work just as much as active-duty members, so by keeping our civilians protected against the flu, preventing an outbreak of the flu within our workforce, we foster their health and wellness and we enhance our readiness and productivity by keeping everyone at work."

Col. Dorothy Hogg, AFMC deputy surgeon general, said that the award is significant and a credit to the hard work of her team.

"This award highlights all the good work that our folks do in preventative medicine," said Hogg. "We're moving away from a culture of health care to health. It's better to keep people healthy than to treat a disease or an illness, and all of the things that Rob has done have advanced that model of thinking."

The award is named in honor of Maj. Gen. William Gorgas, a U.S. Army doctor credited with saving thousands of lives in the early 1900s by adopting innovative measures to control yellow fever and malaria in Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal.