For Meyer, Ceremony Signals New Role, Challenges at USAMRDC
Following a series of substantial and dynamic contributions to the overall mission of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Dr. Ana-Claire Meyer received induction into the Senior Level (SL) leadership ranks on August 13 during a ceremony at the Fort Detrick Auditorium.
“This is just one more groundbreaking event as I see it,” said Brig. Gen. Anthony McQueen, Commanding General of USAMRDC and Fort Detrick, during remarks to the assembled crowd, which included Meyer’s husband and two children. “[It’s] a special day as we add to our history here at USAMRDC.”
The ceremony comes on the heels of Meyer’s promotion to the role of USAMRDC Senior Research and Technology Advisor on June 6. The brand-new role – the first of its kind in the history of the command – is representative of a larger effort to ensure all USAMRDC efforts both align with and meet the highest priority needs of the Army and the Department of Defense.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and eager to work to synthesize all the expertise across the Command and build upon the great work being performed by the Principal Assistant for Acquisition and the Principal Assistant for Research and Technology,” said Meyer, speaking during a phone interview prior to her induction ceremony. In her previous role, Meyer served as Senior Clinical Advisor to the Principal Assistant for Acquisition.
In short, and according to Meyer, the new position will focus on three key areas. First, as a physician scientist, Meyer will serve as an important addition to the Command’s senior scientific and technical leadership staff – acting as an advisor to McQueen. Secondly, she will work with various USAMRDC laboratories, as well as science and technology and project management teams within the command to identify key strategic areas slated for improvement; this being integral to USAMRDC’s ability to fill critical gaps and meet Army and Joint Strategic priorities. Lastly, Meyer will work closely with partners in the Command’s PAA and PART Offices to develop new partnerships across the Army, interagency, academia and private industry communities to meet those same modernization priorities.
“I take my inspiration from the Army modernization approach, and will be looking across different domains in our command to see how we fight, what we fight with and who we are,” said Meyer, who transitioned to USAMRDC in 2017 following a decorated career in academia. “To enable us to meet our future challenges, it is critical to better understand what we need to retain and what we need to change with regard our processes, priorities, and capabilities, as well as recruitment and retention of personnel.”
Currently, and as one of her top orders of business upon taking the role, Meyer plans intensive engagement with internal and external stakeholders to identify key challenges in fulfilling USAMRDC’s contribution to building a force ready to confront challenges related to multi-domain operations on the future battlefield.
“The new position is really [about] having someone dedicated to identifying key strategic initiatives in collaboration with the PAA and the PART, bringing our labs together with our leaders in S&T, program management and key external partners and stakeholders to make sure we’re all rowing in the same direction,” said Meyer. “This will be critical to enable USAMRDC to address the highest priority medical and human performance needs to achieve an MDO-ready force in 2035.”
Notably, among those in the audience for Meyer’s induction ceremony included USAMRDC Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Laragione; USAMRDC Principal Assistant for Acquisition Dawn Rosarius; Dr. Nelson Michael, Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at USAMRDC’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research; and Maj. Gen. Michael Talley, former USAMRDC Commanding General and current Deputy Commanding General (Operations) with the U.S. Army Medical Command, who joined the ceremony virtually.
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