The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and Fort Detrick, Maryland, will host a change of command ceremony on Tuesday, June 22.

The ceremony will take place on Blue and Gray Field, located at Fort Detrick at 9:30 a.m. The ceremony signifies the change in leadership from outgoing commander Maj. Gen. Michael J. Talley to incoming commander Brig. Gen. Anthony L. McQueen.

Maj. Gen. Talley's next assignment will be to serve as the Deputy Commanding General (Operations), U.S. Army Medical Command, Falls Church, Virginia.

Brig. Gen. McQueen most recently served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S. Army Medical Command, Falls Church, Virginia.

Gen. John M. Murray of the Army Futures Command will serve as the senior presiding officer for the ceremony.

For Media interested in attending the event please email chelsea.b.bauckman.civ@health.mil.

About Army Futures Command:
Army Futures Command (AFC) leads the persistent modernization of the Army in order to provide future warfighters with the concepts, capabilities, and organizational designs needed to dominate a future battlefield. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, AFC has more than 26,000 people worldwide. The Army's six modernization priorities are the focus of our eight Cross Functional Teams: Long Range Precision Fires; Next Generation Combat Vehicle; Future Vertical Lift; Army Network; Air and Missile Defense; Soldier Lethality; Assured Positioning Navigation Timing; and, Synthetic Training Environment. The Artificial Intelligence Task Force and Army Applications Lab also support our efforts. Collaborating with entrepreneurs, scientists, industry, and academia, AFC strives to create the best solutions to keep Soldiers safe and America strong. For more information, visit www.armyfuturescommand.com/.

About USAMRDC:
Throughout history, Army doctors have contributed significantly to medical advances. They wrote the first American surgical textbook, kept the Nation's first health statistics, and established the first American school of preventive medicine and public health. The roots of military medicine were planted in 1775 when General Washington and his commanders petitioned the Continental Congress for funds for medical support to help the Army. Two years later, Continental Army Soldiers were mass vaccinated against smallpox. This created the precedent for future military mass immunizations. During both the civil war and Spanish American war, the army's efforts to protect soldiers from infectious diseases and battlefield injuries increased. At the turn of the century Major Walter Reed proved that mosquitoes transmitted yellow fever, and Colonel William Gorgas used sanitation measures to prevent transmission and stop epidemics of both yellow fever and malaria.

In 1943 the United States Army Surgeon General’s Medical Research and Development Board was established to coordinate all medical research both within, as well as outside of the Army. In 1958, the Army Medical Research Board was converted to the Army Medical Research and Development Command, the central agency for all Army Military medical research and development. Twenty years later their headquarters moved from Washington D.C to Fort Detrick, MD.

In 1994, the command reorganized as the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The reorganization improved the Army Medical Department’s ability to prevent illness and injury in deploying forces. Focus areas also included combat casualty care and medical logistics systems capable of enhancing medical readiness. The reorganization structured the command to manage the Medical Materiel Acquisition Program in support of the army of the 21st century.

In 2019, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command was re-designated as the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and continues to play a vital role in the advancement of military medicine. Later that year, USAMRDC realigned under the Army Futures Command; this alignment enables the Command to focus on readiness with an eye to the future force. USAMRDC, hand-in-hand with partners, defeats threats to Warfighter and global health through cutting-edge medical research, development and acquisition. For more information, visit https://mrdc.amedd.army.mil.