U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) hosted its first Women's Health Summit, Jan. 25-28.

The summit gave stakeholders an opportunity to understand and discuss critical topics regarding women's health and health care; as well as contribute to the development of a comprehensive, strategic plan to shape and guide the future of the Navy and Marine Corps women's health community.

Vice Adm. Nora W. Tyson, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet was the featured guest speaker and emphasized the importance and value of the summit with regards to readiness.

"As the Third Fleet Commander, I'm in the readiness business. I owe the Pacific Fleet Commander the ready forces he needs to carry out their mission in the region," said Tyson. "The health of our force has a very real impact on my ability."

Topics addressed during the summit included:

*Women's health challenges and opportunities in the Navy Medicine community.
*Population health management throughout the continuum of care.
*A community vision and goals for the future of women's health and health care delivery.

"Our goal is to develop a strategic plan for the Navy and Marine Corps women's health community to guide the delivery of health care and optimize the health of female beneficiaries," said Cmdr. Eva Domotorffy, BUMED Office of Women's Health. "This plan will be evidence-based, driven by stakeholder input and aligned with SECNAV and BUMED priorities. "During our breakout sessions we discussed existing and anticipated challenges to the delivery of care and achieving optimal health for female beneficiaries."

Cmdr. Gregory Freitag, BUMED Office of Women's Health, emphasized that the number of women serving in the military is increasing and their roles in the military and civilian sector are changing, which means health requirements need to change as well.

"Attendees discussed women's health issues, challenges and opportunities from the provider perspective and the patient perspective," said Freitag. "This summit allowed us to address key findings, trends and themes that will influence women's health care across the Navy and Marine Corps."

Navy Medicine is a global health care network of 63,000 Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high quality health care to more than one million eligible beneficiaries. Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.

For more news from Navy Medicine, visit www.navy.mil/.