Navy Yeoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Amiyah Lee
Navy Administration at Defense Health Agency Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia
Lee’s dedication to her craft is evident in her work developing plan of action and milestones for officer and enlisted evaluations and fitness reports that ensure timely and accurate submissions to Navy Personnel Command. When Navy Vice Adm. Darin Via became Defense Health Agency Director, she made sure all senior Navy personnel (chief petty officers and above) received an official performance review from the highest-ranking Navy official at DHA, then updated the system so their new primary evaluator was listed as Via, thus ensuring every sailor had strong, competitive career records for future military promotion and selection boards.
Air Force Senior Airman Ber Htoo
Paramedic at 374th Medical Group in Yokota Air Base, Japan
Htoo secures force readiness through life-saving emergency care. Recently, he led a team in providing advanced life support and CPR during a cardiac arrest, successfully restoring the patient's pulse and enabling a safe transfer for continued care.
Air Force Senior Airman Bryan DiPersi
Allergy and Immunology Technician at 436th Medical Group in Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
DiPersi leads a team of immunization back-up technicians, ensuring the delivery of all area-specific and routine vaccines to protect beneficiaries in support of Wing missions. His dedication empowers patients to stay mission-ready and continue the fight.
Air Force Capt. Delaney Washburn
Family Medicine Physician at 60th Medical Group in Travis Air Force Base, California
Washburn is a deeply respected and valued leader who consistently makes her team and mission stronger. Her commitment to resiliency and creating stronger systems helps her balance patient care with developing the next generation of Air Force Medical Service professionals. Whether it’s managing her patient panel, teaching residents and medical students in outpatient and inpatient settings, or leading procedure clinics to develop hands-on skills, Washburn shows up every day determined to make her workplace a little better.
Gabrielle Shimkus
Diagnostic Sonography Course Instructor at Medical Education and Training Campus in Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Shimkus is one of three instructor evaluators recently awarded the METC Instructor Evaluator Quarterly Award. She goes above and beyond, volunteering to train and mentor new instructor evaluators while maintaining her own instructor qualifications, contributing to educational learning opportunities for fellow instructors, and improving instructor skills for all 48 METC courses.
Army Capt. Genevieve Weldon
Army Service Lead for the Nutrition and Diet Therapy Course at Medical Education and Training Campus in Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Weldon conducts doctoral research examining how sleep-wake preferences and psychological resilience impact performance during initial entry training, using what she learns to optimize training, leadership, and professional development. She also co-leads the development of an evidence review series to equip field dietitians with practical toolkits that optimize female soldier health and performance across various life stages. Her leadership, specialized research, and tool development ensures that both frontline soldiers and the dietitians who support them are equipped for peak operational readiness.
Jolie Dawn Zygulski
Curriculum Development Branch Chief at Medical Education and Training Campus in Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Zygulski helps ensure enlisted military medical education is aligned with operational requirements, applying evidence-based instructional design, assessment, and educational leadership principles to improve training outcomes. Her work strengthens the knowledge, skills, and adaptability of healthcare personnel who support service members in both clinical and austere environments.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Heinzen
Combat Casualty Care Course Instructor at Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute, Combat Medicine Branch, in San Antonio, Texas
Heinzen delivers and sustains joint warfighting capabilities by teaching Tier 4 Tactical Combat Casualty Care to medical providers across the Military Health System. He’s also the non-commissioned officer in charge of the point of injury and the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosive trauma lanes that encompass the C4 course and serves as a Joint Trauma System Valkyrie pre-hospital instructor teaching emergency fresh whole blood transfusion in the San Antonio region.
Kaeli Gaquer
Mental Health Technician at Malmstrom Medical Group in Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana
Gaquer ensures Airmen are mentally fit for duty by supporting early intervention, treatment, and resilience through the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment program, briefings, and patient care. She also assists leaders in addressing mental health concerns to help sustain a mission-ready force.
Air Force Maj. Lindamira Nkwenti
Chief Information Officer with 48th Medical Group in Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom
Nkwenti drove enterprise-level enhancements across MHS GENESIS, recapturing $186 million in revenue and saving an additional $23 million annually through critical system modernizations. A dedicated mentor and community leader, she has shaped the next generation of Air Force officers and championed programs that empower thousands of military and civilian professionals.
Mary Jo Winters
Patient Safety Specialist at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Winter’s administrative support directly enables patient safety leadership to minimize preventable harm and foster a culture of safety, ensuring a resilient healthcare system and a healthy, combat-ready fighting force.
Army Capt. Mellisa Tamika Barnswell
Clinical Logical Analyst Physician Assistant at Defense Health Agency Medical Logistics in Fort Detrick, Maryland
Barnswell masterfully translated advanced training and Joint Service frameworks into actionable readiness strategies, demonstrating leadership and strategic foresight in every endeavor. Her decisive direction modernized materiel access for large-scale combat operations, overhauled crucial unit welfare frameworks, and secured more than $1 million in critical cost savings for the Defense Health Agency.
Rodney Jones
Information Technology Specialist at Defense Health Agency Headquarters in Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Jones is the cornerstone of DHA’s Medical Circuit Management Office, helping his team provision and delivering high-quality telecommunication circuits that consistently surpass customer expectations across the enterprise. His direction and oversight ensure flawless circuit orders, enabling seamless circuit management delivery in support of warfighter medical readiness.
Shana Flora
Health Science Specialist, Clinical Quality Management Branch, Assistant Director for Healthcare Administration at Defense Health Agency Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia
Flora ensures her teammates have the resources needed to fulfill their missions and sustain critical programs. Although much of her work occurs behind the scenes, she approaches every task with enthusiasm and dedication, ensuring every teammate can carry out their responsibilities efficiently. She’s also key to unit morale, working hard to foster a positive work environment, advocating for workplace balance, and promote employee wellbeing, collaboration, and productivity.
Stuart Campbell
Chief of Global Health Engagement at Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence in San Antonio, Texas
Campbell demonstrates exceptional leadership, clinical expertise, and unwavering mission focus. Over nearly a decade in this critical role, he has led numerous partner nation engagements at the request of combatant commands, advancing rehabilitation and reintegration capabilities for individuals recovering from severe extremity trauma and amputation. As the Department of War representative to Operation Renovator — the United Kingdom-led effort to rebuild rehabilitation capacity in Ukraine — Campbell has made a significant and enduring impact on Ukraine’s ability to deliver effective, patient-centered care while creating valuable opportunities for Military Health System clinicians to gain insight into evolving wound patterns and innovative clinical practices emerging from the modern battlefield. His ability to navigate complex international partnerships, align diverse stakeholders, and translate clinical expertise into strategic engagement consistently advances DOW and Defense Health Agency objectives. Through his sustained leadership and skillful management of high-level relationships, he has directly influenced strategic joint force health policy and enhanced global rehabilitation capabilities in support of wounded service members and partner nations.
Timothy Moss
Assistant Group Practice Manager at Ellsworth Medical Group in Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota
Moss delivers safe, high-quality patient care that meets warfighter needs. He ensures patient records are transferred in a timely manner and covers multiple roles as needed. He also redesigned workflows to maximize patient-centered care.
Air Force Master Sgt. Vincente Ray (Vince) Flores
Senior Enlisted Advisor for Department of War/Veterans Affairs Support Office at Defense Health Agency Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia
Flores is an outstanding leader. He was instrumental in optimizing healthcare for 18.5 million joint military beneficiaries and securing more than $10 million in funding to pioneer medical initiatives. He also engineered a revolutionary digital routing system that reduced processing delays by 60% across the enterprise.