Heroes of Military Medicine award recipients to be honored on May 2, 2012

The Center for Public-Private Partnerships at The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2012 Heroes of Military Medicine awards. These individuals have distinguished themselves through excellence and selfless dedication to advancing medicine for our nation's wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. The recipients will be honored at the Heroes of Military Medicine dinner and award ceremony on May 2, 2012. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R.-Fla.) will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A nine-year veteran of the Army National Guard and six-year reservist, Young serves as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and is nationally known for his expertise on defense and security issues.

General James F. Amos, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, will receive the Hero of Military Medicine Line Leader Award. Amos has held command at all levels from lieutenant colonel to lieutenant general and is a champion of research into the seen and unseen wounds of war, including traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress and prosthetics. As a strong advocate for civilian and military partnerships, he has supported the advancement of military medical research and care for men and women in uniform.

Heroes of Military Medicine awards will be presented to:

• Army Colonel Russ S. Kotwal, M.D., M.P.H., MC: Kotwal, deputy surgeon for United States Army Special Operations Command, will be honored for his leadership as the senior onsite medical provider serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment, where he conducted hundreds of air and ground combat missions and received numerous medals. He is an innovative researcher known throughout the Department of Defense and internationally for his expertise in tactical combat casualty care.

• Air Force Major Erik Nott, M.D., MC: Nott, an orthopedic surgeon and special operations surgical team member in the Air Force's 1st Special Operations Support Squadron, will be honored for his bravery, leadership and accomplishments as a clinical and trauma surgeon providing key instruction to both civilian and military medics alike.

• Hospital Corpsman Second Class Lamonte T. Hammond (FMF/SW), U.S. Navy: He will be honored for his bravery during Operation Enduring Freedom, where he displayed extraordinary medical and emergency proficiency in the midst of intense and sustained firefights. Hammond provided outstanding physical therapy to patients at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Italy and successfully supervised the treatment of patients on board the USNS Comfort during a six-month humanitarian assistance deployment in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Source: Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine