Prior to his retirement in 2012 after 32 years of active service, Lieutenant General (Retired) Eric B. Schoomaker, MD, PhD served as the 42nd U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command.

He is currently an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Military & Emergency Medicine at the nation’s only Federal health university, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in Bethesda, MD. He serves as a Senior Physician Consultant for the Department of Veterans Affairs in the implementation of Veterans Whole Health. His principal interests are two-fold: Complementary and Integrative Health & Medicine (CIH/M) in the shift from a disease management-focused healthcare system to one more centered on the improvement and sustainment of health & well-being; and leadership education. He advocates for the incorporation of CIH/M education and training into the education of health & healthcare professionals. Doctor Schoomaker also promotes the central importance of leadership education and training for health professionals. These interests are reflected in his volunteer work in assisting his local healthcare system in advancing high quality community and hospital-based care and in work on healthcare futures.

Doctor Schoomaker committed his career to meeting the health needs of soldiers, their families and veterans through initiatives that Army Medicine implemented throughout its facilities in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific, focusing on soldier medical readiness, enhancing battlefield care, establishing a comprehensive behavioral health system of care, fostering a culture of trust, advancing comprehensive pain management, and promoting health by preventing combat wounds, injury and illness.

Doctor Schoomaker is an internal medicine physician with a PhD in Human Genetics. In uniform, he held many assignments including command of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, the Army’s Medical Research & Materiel Command and Fort Detrick, MD, an Army academic medical center, a community hospital, a deployable medical brigade and two Army regional medical commands.

Doctor Schoomaker is the recipient of numerous military awards, including those from France and Germany, the 2012 Dr. Nathan Davis Award from the American Medical Association for outstanding government service, an Honorary Doctor of Science from Wake Forest University, a Doctor of Letters in Medicine from the Baylor College of Medicine, and the Philipp M. Lippe Award from the American Academy of Pain Medicine for outstanding contributions to the social and political aspect of Pain Medicine.

He is married to Audrey, a former Army Nurse Corps Officer and therapeutic yoga, a mindfulness instructor and wellness coach; they have a son in college studying to become a jazz musician/producer and two daughters—one an elementary school counselor and the other a medical student.

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