As an innovative leader, Cmdr. Shauna F. O'Sullivan raised the bar for female physicians by earning the 2016 Military Health System Navy Female Physician Leader of the Year award.

As the division head for rheumatology, internal medicine department, O'Sullivan has spent four years at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and 13 years in the Navy. She is the chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Prescription Drug Misuse Committee; an associate master clinician; and a consult manager for the Health Experts Online Portal.

O'Sullivan outshined more than 30 applicants for the award and credited her hard work and accomplishments for putting her over the top.

She made her mark on the command and the Medical Corps by establishing a professional development committee and implementing a monthly lecture series. The development lecture series focuses on long-term career planning and has more than 1,000 attendees.

"We don't have boards where we can meet people to tell us what would be a good career move or how to write a fitness report," O'Sullivan said. "These are basic things we should know, so I thought we should rectify that and I think it has been insanely successful."

For O'Sullivan, the biggest satisfaction about winning the award was putting her mind to something and being rewarded for it.

"I think hard work pays off," she said. "It's nice to be recognized for the countless hours I spend doing things; sometimes we don't do a good job of recognizing that."

Because this award was specifically for female physicians, O'Sullivan noted it is all about motivation.

"I think what it does is encourage myself and other female officers who are rising in the ranks to be recognized, because there is a lack of us at high-level positions," O'Sullivan said. "For me, I'm glad that I got recognized as a female, as a leader, and for everything that I've done."

She offered some advice to others, saying, "Find people who will mentor you, and try to create new opportunities for yourself because that will make for a more rewarding career in the military."

"I think that you make your career," O'Sullivan added. "You find new opportunities, create your own network, and make it the career you want."

She also stated one of the reasons she joined the military is to not only take care of patients, but to serve on an aircraft carrier, and to experience new and neat things.

"I think you have to create your own network of opportunities; if you don't do that, then I don't think you really get to experience the military," O'Sullivan said. "If I'm going to work, I'm going to work hard -- that's my mentality."

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit http://www.navy.mil/.