Hamilton Society of Columbia University

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Testimonial: Army Colonel Jonathan Newmark, Columbia MD 78

MATURE – Army Colonel Jonathan Newmark, Columbia MD 78

When I was a college student, ROTC had been eliminated, and I got into the military by a very roundabout route. I never seriously considered the military even as a part-time career until much later. I joined the US Army Reserve at age 35 and unexpectedly came on active duty on my 40th birthday, making me one of the Army's oldest rookies. I can tell Columbia students, though, that my only regret was that I didn't join earlier. I became a physician, completed my residency and three fellowships, and had a very rewarding career as an attending university faculty neurologist and in private practice before I ever came on active status. When I came into the Army, I thought I was being recruited to use my previous clinical and teaching skills, and I have done that. But I had no idea that the Army would also turn me into several other things: a mass casualty planner dealing with threats of terrorism in the Middle East; a subject matter expert asked to approve medical support plans for the Iraq invasion; a primary physician for several hundred soldiers stationed in the Central American jungle doing humanitarian missions; a chemical weapons expert deploying on State Department and FBI teams to deal with terrorism worldwide; co-host of the largest continuing medical education courses ever televised; adviser to the assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services for public health emergency preparedness; co-author of a chapter in the most widely read English-language medical textbook, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; and a plenary speaker at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in front of 5,000 people and the medical press. The Army has given me opportunities I would never have dreamed of in my previous life, of which these are only the highlights. But there are two overarching benefits that I value even more in military service over and above the privilege of being a physician. First, I don't just assume responsibility for my patients, but, in a small way, I also take care of the country, and that is a source of personal pride. Second, I serve alongside women and men of astonishingly high quality -- I say that having had the opportunity to work in multiple civilian settings, giving me a good standard of comparison -- and these people greatly motivate me to live up to them. Military medical professionals serve out of love, not need or monetary gain; most of us could easily make more elsewhere with les risk. I would encourage any young person to try to find a place to work among people who do what they do for more than just a paycheck. It's worked for me.

Jonathan Newmark, MD, FAAN

Class of 1974, Harvard College
Class of 1978, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
Colonel, Medical Corps, US Army
Deputy Joint Program Executive Officer, Medical Systems, Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical/Biological Defense
Consultant to the US Army Surgeon General for Chemical Casualty Care
Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

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