The Department of Medicine’s partnership with the Durham VA Health Care System, the work our faculty and staff do there to care for patients, and the biomedical research they conduct shed important light on health care issues relevant to veterans. This year’s annual Veterans Day Medicine Grand Rounds, The Veterans Experience, addresses some of these critical topics.
Dr. Chris Hostler, associate vice chair for Veterans Affairs in the Duke Department of Medicine, hosts three guest speakers for the lecture on Friday, November 17 at 8 a.m. in Duke North 2002 and via Zoom. He will be joined by guest speakers, Anna Rutherford, MD, interim deputy chief of staff, Durham VA Medical Center, Meryl Severson, MD, associate professor of Neurosurgery, and Michael Dore, MD, assistant professor, division of General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Hostler will discuss issues unique to veterans such as learning ways to forge a deeper connection with veteran patients, developing an understanding of the experiences our veterans face while in service and when they return home.
A board-certified family medicine physician, Dr. Rutherford will engage learners with personal stories and lessons learned to create an improved awareness of military medicine and culture. She is a graduate of the University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed a residency at Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. Prior to serving as group surgeon for the Marine Headquarters Group from then transferring to Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, where she worked as a family medicine attending and assistant professor with the Uniformed School of Health Sciences.
Dr. Severson will address the concepts of echelons of care, of battlefield triage and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), and the most common cause of battlefield trauma deaths. He is the neurosurgery service chief at the Durham VA as well as the director of the neurosurgery resident rotation. He is also a veteran, having served more than 12 years on active duty as a physician in the United States Navy followed by reserve service culminating in his retirement two years ago.
Dr. Dore will discuss military culture and how it can affect health care. He earned his doctor of medicine degree from the Uniformed Services University, and completed an internal medicine residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before serving ten years in the Navy with positions across the world. Dr. Dore is hospitalist at the Durham VA and continues to serve in the Navy reserve.