Graduate Degree Program in Medical History
The Department of Medical History offers a Master of Military Medical History degree. The degree is now limited to serving officers of the United States Army. It is designed to meet the professional needs of Army officers in the operationally oriented occupational specialties of the Medical Service Corps, with preference for the MOS 70H. The program will prepare the officer to be an instructor in professional military medical education programs in the Army Medical Department and in Army school systems and for utilization as a field historian for specific military medical issues. Graduates will qualify for the skill designator 5X awarded by the United States Army Center of Military History which is used by the Army to identify all commissioned military historians.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must be selected for long term civilian education by the Surgeon General of the Army and must be acceptable for follow-on assignment to the U.S. Army Academy of the Health Sciences as an instructor. The USUHS Graduate Education faculty retain admission authority. The Aptitude portion of the Graduate Record Examination is required. All academic transcripts, a copy of the Officer's Record Brief, copies of all efficiency reports and three letters of recommendation are required. The applicant be a graduate of the AMEDD Officer's Advanced Course and graduation from the Combined Arms and Services Staff School is preferable. The program is restricted to one student per year.
Program Outline
The program will teach research methods and analysis, provide a specific knowledge base, and document that the graduate is capable of using the methods to extend the knowledge base.
The 12 month program includes:
- Completion of the Army's two week military history teacher program at The Combat Studies Institute, USA Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS.
- Completion of a program of study at the Uniformed Services University to include a minimum of 48 quarter hours of graduate credit. This will include an overview of United States history, military history and medical history, with particular emphasis on the history of military medicine, as well as on methods of historical research and teaching. The core courses require intensive reading and tutorial work, attendance at local seminars and national meetings, and the independent preparation of lectures and seminars. At least two graduate history seminars will be taken at the Department of History, the American University, Washington, DC.
- Presentation of original research in an area of US military medical history in such a way as to establish the student's capacity to function as a military medical history instructor and field military medical historian.
Faculty
Core faculty for the program are Robert J. T. Joy, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Medical History and Dale C. Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Medical History. An associated faculty member will assist as appropriate (John Parascondola, Ph.D.,/Chief Historian US Public Health Service). Adjunct faculty will be utilized for special topics.