Rear Admiral Anthony L. LaCourse, is a proud Navy Mustang and a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Bridgewater State College in 1991 and a postgraduate degree as a Physician Assistant from Northeastern University in 1993. His naval career began in 1987 and in 1988 completed training as a Hospital Corpsman. After graduate school he was commissioned in 1993 into the Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps as a Physician Assistant. He is the first Physician Assistant to attain the rank of Rear Admiral.

He currently serves as Director of the Naval Reserve Medical Service Corps. But, from October 2023 to September 2025, he held the position of Marine Central (MARCENT) Command Force Surgeon, where he oversaw the coordination of U.S. Marine Corps medical assets throughout the Middle East. He previously commanded the 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Miramar, California from 2020 to 2023.

Rear Admiral LaCourse’s operational assignments have included service as Battalion Surgeon for 1st Battalion, 25th Marines during the Unit Deployment Program (UDP 20.1) in Okinawa, Japan, and Korea from 2019 to 2020; Deputy Force Surgeon for Marine Central Command from 2018 to 2019; Senior Medical Officer for Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF 13.3) a Crisis Response Team under the Africa Command (AFRICOM) from 2013 to 2014; and Senior Medical Officer at the Detention Facility in Parwan, Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010.

His reserve assignments have included serving as Assistant Battle Watch Captain at Chief of Naval Operations - Operations and Plans Division (N3/5) at the Pentagon from 2015 to 2018. He was Officer-in-Charge of the Operational Health Support Unit (OHSU) Portsmouth Det V in Quincy, Massachusetts from 2011 to 2012, and he served as the Navy Reserve Specialty Leader for Physician Assistants. He has also contributed as a member of the Medical Executive Credentialing Committee at the Centralized Credentialing and Privileging Directorate (CCPD) in Jacksonville, Florida.

His personal decorations include two awards of the Legion of Merit, two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy Commendation Medals, one Army Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. He is authorized to wear the Fleet Marine Forces Warfare Device since 2015 and the Command Ashore Badge since 2020.

Over the course of his 31-year career as a Physician Assistant, Rear Admiral LaCourse has practiced in Lung Transplant and Thoracic Surgery, Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, and spent 23 years in Emergency Medicine. He is the founder and past president of the American Society of Endocrine PAs (ASEPA), established in 1996, and served as Communications Chairman for the Massachusetts Association of PAs in 1999.

Last Updated: 30 September 2025