Personal HistoryDr. David M. Lam was born 25 May 1946 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, where he received a BA in Government and International Relations. He received his MD degree from the University of Minnesota in 1972, and earned a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of Texas in 1979. He is Board-certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine as a specialist in Aerospace Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Physician Executives. In the United Kingdom, he is also listed on the Specialist Register as a specialist in Aerospace Medicine. He has also been elected an Academician of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine. He is licensed/registered as a physician both in the United States (Alaska # 1523) and in the United Kingdom (GMC Registration # 6121812). Colonel Lam was commissioned in the Medical Service Corps of the United States Army in 1971 and transferred to the Medical Corps in 1972. He served in a wide variety of assignments, including one tour in Korea, two in Alaska and two in Germany, in addition to his last military assignment at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. His military schooling included the Basic and Advanced Army Medical Department Officer courses, Army Flight Surgeon's Course, Air Force Residency training in Aerospace Medicine, Health Care Administration Course, Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. He was trained in the management of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical casualties, Civil-Military Cooperation, Humanitarian Relief Operations, and Civil Emergency Planning, among other topics. After completing an Army Internship at Madigan Army Medical Center, he served from 1973-75 as Battalion Flight Surgeon, Garrison Surgeon and Commander 548th General Dispensary at Yongsan Garrison Korea. His next tour was as Senior Flight Surgeon, 222nd Aviation Battalion and 172nd Infantry Brigade, Fort Wainwright Alaska. Following Residency training in Aerospace Medicine, he was assigned as Aviation Medicine Staff Officer and Chief, Ambulatory Patient Care at the U.S. Army Health Services Command, Fort Sam Houston Texas. He served as Commander U.S. Army Medical Department Activity and Director of Health Services at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin California from 1981 to 1983, followed by an assignment as Commander U.S. Army Medical Department Activity Alaska and Director Health Services/Army Forces Alaska Surgeon, 172nd Infantry Brigade (Alaska) from 1983-86. He was then assigned as Director, Army Systems Hazards Research Program, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick Maryland, followed by an assignment as Deputy Command Surgeon, United States European Command in Stuttgart Germany from 1988-91. During Operation Desert Storm, he served as Surgeon for JTF Proven Force, a joint air and ground task force which carried out combat operations over northern Iraq. He led the medical aspects of humanitarian and disaster relief operations in Armenia and Tunisia. From 1991-93 he served as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity and Cutler Army Hospital at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, followed by a rapid return to Europe. He served as Surgeon, 5th Corps in Heidelberg and Frankfurt Germany from 1993-96. During this assignment, he was responsible for developing the medical support plan for U.S. Army forces participating in IFOR operations in the Former Yugoslavia, and additionally served as Task Force Surgeon for U.S. humanitarian operations in Rwanda and Zaire. His final military assignment was as Medical Staff Officer on the International Military Staff at Headquarters NATO. In this position, where he served for an unprecedented five years at the request of the NATO medical community, he was the impetus for some of the greatest changes in Alliance medical doctrine since its creation. Due to his actions, there are currently several truly multinational medical units deployed in support of NATO missions, and the improvements in multinational medical standardisation have been truly functional. He has actively participated in and advised many NATO bodies, including the Senior Group on Proliferation, the Defence Group on Proliferation, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Center, the Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee, and the Joint Medical Committee. Doctor Lam retired from the active Army on 1 July 2001, and now serves as Adjunct Associate Professor at the Charles McC. Mathias Jr. National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, from which position he has been seconded to the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) in Ft. Detrick, Maryland, where he works primarily in the areas of telemedicine standardisation, project development, and deployment of systems, mostly in the NATO and Partnership For Peace nations. He serves as the Secretary for the NATO Telemedicine Expert Team, which is charged with developing policies and procedures which will enhance the multinational interoperability of Telemedicine systems in a multinational operational environment. Additionally, he serves on or chairs several other Research Task Groups for the NATO Research and Technology Organisation. He served for three years as a High Level Medical Expert (Consultant) to the NATO Joint Medical Committee, providing expertise primarily on disaster and aviation medicine, as well as medical response to WMD attacks. He currently serves as the TATRC Liaison Officer to the NATO Medical Community, the European Space Agency, and the European Commission. A well-known lecturer on multiple subjects, including Aeromedical Evacuation and the history of Military Medicine, he has recently received the Marie Marving award for excellence in Aviation Medicine Education from the Aerospace Medical Association. Research InterestsTelemedicine, especially as regards disaster and third world utilisation; Aerospace medicine; Standardisation of Telemedicine and Advanced Medical Technology; Patient Evacuation. Disaster Relief and Chemical/Biological Warfare Defense. History of military and aviation medicine, particularly that of aeromedical evacuation. Clinical SpecialityAerospace Medicine; Preventive Medicine Publications
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