Photo By Charles Bell | Dr. Carrie Quinn, Deputy to the Commanding General of the Defense Health Agency...... read more read more
FORT DETRICK, Md. – High school and college students participating as near-peer mentors in this year’s Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science summer program had the opportunity to hear from two senior Defense Health Agency Research & Development-Medical Research and Development Command leaders about their scientific career journeys and to ask them about the benefits of pursuing careers in STEM. In addition to offering valuable career advice to budding young scientists, the engagement also supported DHA R&D-MRDC’s mission to cultivate the future workforce that will ensure DHA R&D-MRDC remains in the forefront of military medical research and innovation.
Dr. Carrie Quinn, Deputy to DHA R&D-MRDC’s Commanding General, and Col Jacob Johnson, a Fellow in the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Biosafety and Biosecurity Program, spoke about their career influences, educational background, military research, and leadership assignments to the GEMS near-peer mentors, who provide academic guidance to elementary school students participating in the annual extracurricular STEM education program. Quinn and Johnson were among a dozen subject matter experts from across the command who spoke to students and mentors throughout the five-week program.
In her discussion, Quinn emphasized that students could follow many paths to a career in science, citing her own eclectic journey as an example. After working as a physical therapist and emergency medical technician, she joined the U.S. Army so that she could pursue a position as a research scientist at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, part of DHA R&D-MRDC. There, she led a team conducting research into human performance in extreme environments. As director of USARIEM’s GEMS program, she was famous for greeting the students with high-fives every morning as they arrived at the front gate of the Natick Soldier Systems Center.
“There's no normal pathway. It's the pathway you want to follow,” said Quinn. “I followed almost none of the normal trajectory because I was willing to say yes to opportunities that sounded maybe a little bit weird. Every next job I've had has been better than what I expected it to be, and the number of doors that each opportunity has opened has been spectacular. So, don’t be afraid to say ‘yes.’”
In addition to conducting research in military medicine, Quinn has long been interested in its strategic policy aspects as well. Prior to joining DHA R&D-MRDC, she served in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering as a senior advisor for critical and emerging technologies. She also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency, where she served on special assignment to the White House Situation Room supporting the President, Vice President, and the National Security Advisor.
Quinn stressed that rapid advances in science and technology such as artificial intelligence in decision making, organoids for biological testing, and drones in combat will require tomorrow’s scientists to have a strong grounding in ethics.
“You are going to confront so many more ethical questions in your STEM careers than what I've ever had to deal with up to this point,” said Quinn. “Know your moral compass and do not stray from that. We have a saying in the Army: ‘the hard right and the easy wrong,’ If you choose to go with the easy wrong, you'll lose every time, and you’ll lose the faith and trust of your followers. And getting that back is almost a hundred percent not going to happen.”
Johnson emphasized that a STEM education can be parlayed into career opportunities beyond conducting research in an academic laboratory. STEM skills and knowledge are valuable assets for careers in fields as varied as publishing, technology transfer, program management, policy, and even financial services. Many of these non-laboratory activities play vital roles in DHA R&D-MRDC’s day-to-day operations.
“The career space today is completely different than it was decades ago, when I was in school, and it's constantly changing,” said Johnson. “The idea that you have to wear a white coat and work at a lab bench is only true if that’s the path you want to pursue. There are so many options out there, just waiting for you.”
To explore those opportunities, Johnson encouraged the near-peer mentors to actively seek out people in those fields who would be willing to share their experience and knowledge and introduce them to colleagues who can help them get a foot in the door.
“If I didn't have the folks who assisted me since the seventh grade, I don't know that I would be here right now,” said Johnson. “They inspired me when I was having tough moments, they believed in me when I doubted myself, and they encouraged me when I frustrated. That's why I keep coming back every year to speak at the GEMS program.”
Johnson has a doctorate in cell biology and immunology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. After completing the Army Medical Department Officer’s Basic Course, the Army assigned him to DHA R&D-MRDC’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as a principal research investigator. Prior to his fellowship, he was director of the DOD Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office and the Joint Trauma Analysis & Prevention of Injury in Combat program office, located at DHA R&D-MRDC’s headquarters at Fort Detrick. As a biosafety and biosecurity program fellow, Johnson is gaining practical experience in how to conduct operations in high-security environments of the DOD’s most complex biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories.
Johnson says workforce development is a vital prerequisite for DHA R&D-MRDC to be able to carry out its mission to improve Warfighter survivability and lethality, enhance force protection and readiness, drive medical modernization throughout the DHA enterprise, and contribute to deterrence and posture at the theater and global levels.
“I look at programs like GEMS as the lifeblood of our scientific bench,” said Johnson. “We are planting a seed with future scientists who could go on to impact government science, whether they end up wearing the uniform or serving as a civilian or contractor, or working with one of our partners in the larger community of interest. The near-peer mentors who participate in GEMS are getting a full-spectrum learning opportunity that will prepare them for their professional education and hopefully inspire them to become lifelong learners. Who knows what game-changing medicines or devices they could create?”
| Date Taken: | 08.01.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.01.2025 13:35 |
| Story ID: | 544535 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, GEMS Mentors Hear Senior Scientists’ Career Stories, by Paul Lagasse, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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