The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Combat Casualty Care Research Program Director Air Force Col. Todd Rasmussen received the 2015 Heroes of Military Medicine award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium May 7.

Rasmussen was one of three service members honored at the annual event organized by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, which is designed to spotlight individual success stories in the field of military medicine. Also honored were Army Lt. Col. Peter Muench and Navy Cmdr. Darian Rice. More than 500 people attended the event, including U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson and Commandant of the Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, Jr.

"This is an honor but the award is really a reflection of all the work by the entire team," said Rasmussen.

During his 21-year career as a military physician and surgeon, Rasmussen has performed more than 5,000 operations on military beneficiaries including more than 1,000 in the Iraq or Afghanistan Theaters of War.

"The trauma cases we've seen over the past 10 years have been a once-in-a-generation type of situation," Rasmussen said.

The event also featured a keynote speech by ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who was seriously injured in a roadside bomb attack while on assignment with U.S. military forces in the Middle East in early 2006.

"The medicine is magical and it's due to the people in this room," said Woodruff as he recounted his own painful recovery from traumatic brain injury. "Thank you for allowing families to hope again."