Former Commander, Navy Medicine East addresses Lejeune Family Medicine Graduates

Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune (NNS) -- Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune held the ninth-annual Family Medicine Residency Graduation Ceremony June 28, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The ceremony featured retired Rear Adm. William (Bob) Kiser (Dr.), former commander of Navy Medicine East as the guest speaker who motivated the graduates about their role in Navy Medicine.

"Military men and women going into harm's way will always be within earshot of hospital corpsmen and Navy Medicine," said Kiser. "There are three things that I want to suggest to you today that I feel will add to your success."

Kiser spoke directly to the graduates and told them to invest in themselves and each other. He reminded them that their success today means that somewhere along the way, someone put their arms around them and offered encouragement. He also reminded them to live the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment with reckless abandon and to never forget that it is not about them, but about the people they serve as physicians.

Family Medicine physicians provide a wide array of treatment ranging from preventive medicine to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic illnesses. They are valuable members of the Navy Medicine health care team. Once the training is complete they are available for world-wide assignment. After completing the rigorous training program at Lejeune the new doctors have orders in hand and will report to their next duty station.

"The caliber of graduates from our senior class is stellar. All of them passed their American Board of Family Medicine board certification exams in April prior to graduation. It has been an honor to work with each one of these outstanding family physicians," noted Dr. Phyllis MacGilvray, family medicine program director. "The intern class graduating this year are the 'cream of the crop' in regards to all interns we've graduated from this program. I've never seen a class this talented, this motivated, and this collegial in my experience."

Three of them will remain at the command to continue residency. Others will transfer commands and fill respective billets as a general medical officer, undersea medical officer and flight surgeon, while some will report for overseas assignment or embark aboard ship.


The up-tempo and rigorous training by Marines and Sailors at Lejeune makes it an excellent place for providers to train and work. It provides a mixed patient base ranging from newborns to senior citizens. The interns get the full gamut of training and participate in clinical rotations to include the emergency room, trauma, orthopedics, intensive care, ward medicine, OB-GYN, pediatrics, psychiatry, podiatry, and surgery.

In December 2012, the command was notified that the program was awarded a five-year accreditation status by the American Counsel of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which is the maximum amount of time that a Family Medicine program can receive accreditation. NHCL's Family Medicine program is the first to receive zero citations. Additionally, the program had a 100 percent board certification pass rate for all senior residents in the graduating class.

"It is no easy tasks to get to where they are today, the training is designed to teach and test them. During the three-year residency they received nearly 750 hours of lectures, spent 114 nights on call and delivered or helped with the delivery of 104 babies, and helped admit 372 inpatients," said Capt. David Lane, commanding officer, Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune.

"I am the first in my family to become a doctor. My parents made many sacrifices to help get me where I am today. Most of my motivation since graduating high school was making sure their sacrifices weren't wasted. It really has not set in yet that I've made it," said Lt. Nathan Hemerly, FMR graduate.

The Family Medicine Residency program started at NHCL in June 2003. Five interns and four residents were enrolled in the first class. Today's graduation means that a total of 51 family physicians have completed the rigorous training that is required to become a board certified Family Medicine doctor.


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