Q: How did you get into nursing and military nursing?

I was raised in Alaska and during the summer, I’d drive my father to his job with the FAA at the Elmendorf Air Force Base military airport. Every three to seven minutes, a plane would land with either soldiers going to Vietnam or coming home.I’d see hospital airplanes pull up and they’d off-load the severely wounded; ambulances would arrive for cargo planes and accept the coffins of soldiers who didn’t make it. Other planes would land with personnel going to Vietnam. I could always tell they were en route, as those soldiers were full of energy.

I stopped to think about what I saw and understood that the war was having a devastating impact on our generation of young men, yet nobody in my nursing school was joining the service. My senior year in school, I joined the Army Nurse Corps Student Program, which is similar to the ROTC. I realized that our soldiers needed the best nursing and health care our country could provide.

Those times were not unlike today in that we were in an unpopular war, but back then, those unhappy with the war took it out on the soldiers. Signing up was not a popular thing to do, as there was a lot of antimilitary, antiwar sentiment. With this insight, I made the decision to enlist in the Army for two years and stayed for 28.

Q: How did you get into research?

I started my master’s degree just wanting a good clinical foundation but saw that nursing had to have research-based practice. Shannon Perry at Vanderbilt was a pivotal person and part of the school’s rigorous focus on research. I was hooked and loved every minute of my academic experience. Upon graduation, I went to Germany for four years but following that, I applied for an Army program that would fund my doctorate and was accepted. Nine months after graduation, I was selected to lead the DOD, BCRP.

Q: What is the Breast Cancer Research Program?

The BCRP was congressionally mandated in 1992 with a $25 million appropriation. Growing concern over the lack of progress against the disease motivated Congress to increase funding in 1993 with an appropriation of $210 million.

The Army then commissioned the Institute of Medicine to recommend strategies for program management, scientific review mechanisms, and investment strategies. Those recommendations were published in Strategies for Managing the Breast Cancer Research Program: A Report to the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.

The program initially funded 444 multiyear awards in three broad areas: training and recruitment, research, and infrastructure enhancement.

Q: Tell me about the DOD research programs.

People don’t realize that the Army is the second-largest funder of cancer research in this country, second only to the National Cancer Institute.

During my years with the program, we funded well over 2,000 research grants. As a nurse researcher, I was proud to have overseen the funding of nearly a billion dollars in urgently needed health care research.

The Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, under the DOD, was established to help bring about an expanded research program and started with the Breast Cancer Initiative in 1993.

During my nearly five-year tenure as director, the program expanded to include funding for research in prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, neurofibromatosis, osteoporosis, and defense women’s health. Now, it is also funding research on chronic myelogenous leukemia, tuberous sclerosis, and prion diseases.

More information on the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs is available at http://cdmrp.army.mil.

Q: What are you doing now?

Well, I’m retired from the military and am now exploring ways to become more active in research.

As a product of the “sandwich generation,” I spent two years providing home hospice care for my husband’s parents. It brought me back to bedside nursing in a very personal way.

I am also doing parish nursing with my church and last year went on a health-focused mission trip to Honduras.

I can’t say I’ve had a standard career path, as I never went to war, but did have the privilege of helping in the war on cancer.