Photo By Tech. Sgt. Blake Gonzales | U.S. Air Force Col. Sergio Anaya, left, 62d Airlift Wing commander, passes the 62d...... read more read more
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U.S. Air Force Col. Karen E. Bowman relinquished command of the U.S. Air Force 62nd Medical Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing, to Col. John M. Hatfield in a ceremony held July 21, 2025, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The presiding official was Air Force Col. Sergio E. Anaya, commanding officer of 62nd Airlift Wing.
“I would like to thank Col. Anaya for giving me this opportunity to command the 62nd Medical Squadron,” said Hatfield. “I am a third generation Air Force officer, spanning over 70 years from my grandfather, father and now myself. I am following in my father’s footsteps by serving at the command level.”
Bowman, who led the squadron since June 2023, oversaw a period of significant achievement as she oversaw all Air Force Medical capabilities in support of the 62nd Airlift Wing in executing rapid global mobility and the Department of Defense’s sole Prime Nuclear Airlift Force unit. She provided leadership to the Warrior and Operational Medicine Clinic, Base Operational Medicine Clinic, Bioenvironmental Engineering, Dental, Flight Medicine, Health Promotions, Optometry, and Public Health, providing executive management to three joint facilities valued at 48 million dollars. She directed a three-million-dollar budget that supported a global airlift mission, Air Force Special Operations Command, and the Western Air Defense Sector. Her leadership also resolved a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear countermeasures vulnerability, boosting readiness from near zero to nearly 100 percent, and she mitigated Family Advocacy Program risks to the Prime Nuclear Airlift Force through implementation of a novel algorithm.
According to her Meritorious Service Medal citation, “Bowman’s leadership inspired a flawless Unit Effectiveness Inspection and a near perfect Joint Commission Inspection, 15 wing and nine major command awards, including the 2024 Air Mobility Command Outstanding Medical Home Award.”
While her Air Force role focused on medical readiness, she also supported the Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific, part of the Defense Health Agency, as the director of the 62nd Medical Squadron’s “Airman’s Clinic,” providing primary care and operational medicine services to nearly 4,000 active-duty Air Force personnel.
Bowman is a board-certified pediatrician and a graduate of Yale University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Prior to joining the military in 2010, she worked as an urgent care provider for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and as a pediatrician for the International Pediatrics Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. Her Air Force assignments include staff clinician and medical director of the United States Air Force Academy, commander of the 18th Healthcare Operations Squadron, and primary care department chair of the 59th Medical Group. She has also served as a pediatrician, commander of a Family Health Flight, and chief of a medical staff.
“I would like to thank Col. Bowman for setting me up for success by leaving me with a top-notch medical squadron,” said Hatfield. “My goal is to continue to build on her successes and support the mission of the 62nd Airlift Wing and the mighty C-17s.”
Hatfield assumes command after serving as an assistant professor and the director of the Global Health Graduate Certificate Program within the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, where he directed the largest medical distance learning program in the Department of Defense from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. The Los Angeles, California, native is board certified in Aerospace and Occupational Medicine and is credentialed as a flight surgeon. With extensive international medical experience, he has practiced medicine in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America and the U.S.
His previous assignments include public health flight commander at 347th Aeromedical Squadron, public health commander at 320th Expeditionary Medical Squadron, public health flight officer in charge at 52nd Aeromedical Squadron, special operations flight surgeon at 353rd Special Operations Group, flight commander at 99th Aeromedical Squadron, flight surgeon at 380th Expeditionary Medical Group, force surgeon at Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, chief of aerospace medicine at 36th Medical Group, and chief of aerospace medicine at 48th Medical Group.
The holder of numerous degrees, Hatfield has a Doctor of Chiropractic from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Nova Southeastern University, in addition to a Master of Public Health from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Occupational Health from the University of Utah.
As Hatfield concluded his comments, he thanked his father for inspiration, his mother for her masterful organization and planning, and his wife for being an enthusiastic supporter through recent assignments in Africa, Asia, Europe and the U.S. Finally, he thanked his children. “They are the joys of my life and the future of the Hatfield lineage.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2025 19:27 |
| Story ID: | 548342 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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