As we close out Hispanic Heritage Month across the country through food, family and culture, Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) reflects on stories of the Hispanic Americans who have shaped our country through service and dedication.
One such story comes from the director for NMRC’s Biological Defense Research Directorate (BDRD), Capt. Guillermo Pimentel.
Pimentel, born in Manhattan and raised in Puerto Rico, began his career in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a hospital corpsman in 1988.
“We lived in the Guánica, the poorest town in Puerto Rico. It is the friendliest town, and a beach-lovers paradise,” Pimentel recalled. “During my senior year of high school, I was approached by a Navy recruiter. I ‘failed’ the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery by 2 points.”
Nevertheless, that same recruiter went on to explain the benefits of joining the Navy.
“It was very appealing, since I come from a low-income family, and I would be fully independent, so I joined the Navy at 17.”
Following his time as a reservist in the Gulf War, Pimentel left the service to earn a bachelor’s degree in industrial microbiology and a master’s degree in biology from the University of Puerto Rico.
Pimentel then braved the cold climate of Pullman, Washington to earn a doctoral degree in plant pathology from Washington State University (WSU), focusing on mycology and population genetics. Following his graduation from WSU, Pimentel, now a lieutenant, became head of the microbiology department at the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia.
From 2003 to 2010, Pimentel served multiple leadership positions at the Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) 3 (now NAMRU EURAFCENT), then located in Cairo. In these roles, he managed research projects with the mission of implementing and strengthening laboratory-based disease surveillance capabilities in the Middle East, Central Asia, former Soviet Union, North Africa and West Africa. Pimentel led research and surveillance efforts to understand the epidemiology of infectious diseases of public health importance in the EUCOM, CENTCOM and AFRICOM Areas of Responsibility. He went on to provide laboratory support during several H5N1 flu outbreaks in West Africa and Central Asia. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Pimentel led the NAMRU-3 outbreak support to forces deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and 20 partner nations.
In August of 2015, Pimentel reported to the NAMRU-6 (now NAMRU SOUTH) in Lima, Peru as executive officer. In March 2017, he became commanding officer of the NAMRU.
Before returning to NMRC as BDRD director, Pimentel served as the Chief of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance Branch at the Defense Health Agency from 2019 to 2022, leading the DoD global infectious disease surveillance network in support of Force Health Protection for the Geographic Combatant Commands.
Pimentel shared thoughts on these experiences in the Navy, and on growing up in Puerto Rico, as part of NMRC’s recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.
‘We should absolutely recognize Hispanic Heritage Month,” Pimentel commented at a recent command gathering. “As humans, we tend to forget history and past contributions of our personnel pretty quickly. I see Hispanic Heritage Month program as a mechanism to reflect on the past and to learn from the history of an organization.
“We all learn and experience differently across our lives. This it is what make us unique as individuals. When we bring all this unique and diverse knowledge to an organization, it makes us stronger.”
Pimentel also spoke on the Hispanic leaders that inspire him.
“I love to learn about past contributions of our military and civilian personnel to the mission,” Pimentel said. “A good example is how Dr. Martinez-Lopez, a Puerto Rican just like me, was a general for the Army, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, and now is Assistant Secretary of Health Affairs.
“As a Puerto Rican, it gives me lot of pride, and sometime hope, because less than 1% of all admirals and generals come from a truly Hispanic background. I love to listen from where they came, how they fought challenges, how they apply their experiences and their impact to the mission.”
Throughout Hispanic Heritage month, NMRC aims to recognize the contributions of our sailors, scientists and civilian personnel with roots in countries and cultures with Spanish-speaking heritage.
NMRC is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of the Navy, Marine Corps, and joint U.S. warfighters, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, medical modeling, simulation, operational mission support, epidemiology and behavioral sciences.