Public Health Center Changes Command

NAVY AND MARINE CORPS PUBLIC HEALTH CENTER (NMCPHC), PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Command of the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) changed Friday when Capt. Brian Feldman relieved Capt. Robert “Bob” Hawkins during a ceremony conducted at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, July 9.
Rear Admiral Darin Via, Commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic, Portsmouth, Va. presided over the ceremony.
In his remarks, Via cited Hawkins’s leadership as well as the tremendous impact that NMCPHC’s contributions have on Navy and Marine Corps mission readiness.
“Navy Medicine made the right choice sending you here. You took control during what I believe has been the most complex and challenging time in Navy Medicine History," said Via. "Through your guidance and leadership, the men and women of the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center responded with unbelievable resolve and determination. You have done above and beyond for our nation and we are better today as a country because of you.”
Via concluded his remarks by welcoming Capt. Feldman back to Hampton Roads as the incoming NMCPHC Commander, and thanking the men and women of NMCPHC for their many contributions during the COVID-19 global pandemic to protect the warfighter and ensure mission readiness.
Via presented Hawkins with the Legion of Merit for his leadership in support of Navy Public Health and the Navy Medicine mission.
Hawkins’ spent the majority of his time as NMCPHC Commander responding to the COVID-19 crisis and acknowledged the role of NMCPHC in his remarks. "NMCPHC and all the filed activities, your ability to respond to the COVID crisis really solidified your reason to be,” said Hawkins, who will be assigned to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery upon completion of his tour of duty as NMCPHC Commander. “You have responded to hundreds and hundreds of short-fused asks and tasks. You and all the field activities have deployed to the all global combatant commands, guided policy decisions and actions to protect the Fleet and Fleet Marine Force - they relied on you, and you delivered. That effort in the midst of COVID required a lot of sacrifice both by many of you as individuals as well as collectively you as a group. Thank you."
The new NMCPHC Commander, Capt. Feldman, a native of San Diego, Calif., graduated in 1997 from Duke University with a dual degree in biomedical and electrical and computer engineering. He was accepted to the Health Professions Scholarship Program and graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk Virginia in 2001.
Feldman completed his residency at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth followed by one year as a staff Pediatrician at the Halyburton Naval Hospital at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point. He was selected for specialty training in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has also completed a two-year cancer prevention fellowship as well as a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology.
Feldman returned to the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth Virginia serving in numerous leadership roles during his tour, and established the first clinical directorate of the Tidewater Multi-Service Market Pediatric Service Line expanding inpatient services and patient recapture throughout the Tidewater region.
Experienced in humanitarian assistance and disaster response, Feldman deployed with the USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20) as the Pediatric Department Head in support of Continuing Promise 2011, and served as the Director of Medical Services from 2011 - 2015, including extensive mission development for Continuing Promise 2013 and 2015.
From 2008-2014, he lead the Uniformed Services Oncology Consortium for over 50 research protocols for children and active duty patients with cancer to ensure that military dependents received cutting edge therapy.
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and holds an Associate Professorship of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He remains active in the community as a two time President of the Tidewater Pediatric Society and champion of community partnerships in resiliency and care collaboration.
Feldman’s deployments include serving as the 5th fleet Officer-in- Charge of Fleet Surgical Teams FOUR and EIGHT, and Task Force Surgeon for the IWO JIMA (LHD-7) Amphibious Ready Group in 2018. He comes to NMCPHC having completed his tour as Executive Officer of the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory.
Upon assuming command, Feldman thanked Hawkins for his exceptional leadership and for instilling a culture of excellence. “Captain Hawkins, you have instilled a culture of excellence while sustaining operational relevance, all while rising to the challenge of a once in a lifetime pandemic this year,” said Feldman. “Your leadership has never been more important -- your staff thank you, and I thank you.”
Feldman also acknowledged while praising the entire NMCPHC enterprise for role it played during the COVID-19 global pandemic. “NMCPHC played an impressive effort in the Navy’s effort to address the COVID-19 global pandemic that ensured the operational readiness of DON forces world-wide.” Said Feldman. “You stood up an Emergency Operations Center that ensured public health expertise was available around the clock while sustaining all other aspects of your mission, such as providing rapid environmental preventative medicine units and their forward-deployed preventive medicine units, engaged with the fleet and the Marine Corps in their complex operating environments.”
NMCPHC is part of the Navy Medicine team, 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.
The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) develops and shapes public health for the U.S. Navy and Marines Corps through health surveillance, epidemiology and analysis, disease and injury prevention, and public health consultation. Learn more by going to www.nmcphc.med.navy.mil. Follow NMCPHC on social media at https://www.facebook.com/NavyAndMarineCorpsPublicHealthCenter http://twitter.com/nmcphc and https://www.instagram.com/nmcphc/