After nearly 30 years of service, an icon of naval aerospace medicine and former officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) died, July 12, after battling a long illness.

Capt. Jay S. Dudley, a St. Louis native, died in Pensacola, Florida. He is survived by his wife and children.

Navy Medicine Operational Training Center Commanding Officer Capt. Paul D. Kane said Dudley's contributions to Naval Aerospace Medicine could not be understated, and the contributions he made to the community stemmed further than academics.

"Capt. Dudley served as a doctor, as a flight surgeon and as a shipmate through a variety of capacities while on active duty," Kane said. "But for the 29 years he chose to wear the uniform of our nation's Navy, he also served as a friend; as a mentor to countless flight surgeons, aviation physiologists and aviation medical technicians in the Navy. His legacy is that of compassion, and his absence from the halls of learning he helped define at NAMI are something we will all notice."

Dudley had a bachelor's in biology and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He completed his general surgery internship at McLaren General Hospital in Flint, Michigan, and his second year general surgery residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

After a two-year tour as the only general medical officer for a base of 2,000 active duty and government employees at Marine Corps Logistic Base Albany, Georgia, he began his two-decade affiliation with naval aerospace medicine, entering naval flight surgeon training in Pensacola, Florida. He was designated a naval flight surgeon in February 1989.

After a variety of operational tours, Dudley earned his Master of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health at Boston in 1993, and completed his aerospace residency training in 1995 at NAMI in Pensacola, the facility for which he would later serve as director of Academics and ultimately as OIC.

Dudley was an affiliate member of the American College of Preventive Medicine, an associate fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, a diplomat of the American Academy of Family Medicine, a member of the Department of Defense Space Shuttle Medical Support Operations, a member of the Society of
US Naval Flight Surgeons and a lifetime member of the Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons.

NAMI is the U.S. Navy's premier aeromedical training facility, a component command of Navy Medicine Operational Training Center (NMOTC), the recognized global leader in operational medicine. NMOTC, in turn, reports to Navy Medicine Education and Training Command (NMETC), an organization maintaining oversight of Navy medicine education and training.

For more news from NMETC, visit www.navy.mil/