Courtesy Photo | NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Italy (Sept. 15, 2025) Leadership and scientists at the...... read more read more
NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Italy – As part of a regional visit to military medical assets across Europe, the Honorable Stephen Ferrara, Acting Assistant Secretary of War for Health Affairs visited Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) EURAFCENT’s headquarters on September 15.
During the visit, Ferrara met with NAMRU EURAFCENT staff and leadership, to include, Capt. Michael Prouty, commanding officer, and Cmdr. Micah Kinney, executive officer.
Ferrara received a comprehensive brief about the NAMRU EURAFCENT mission, research activities and strategic role within the Military Health System (MHS). Topics included the command’s infectious disease surveillance programs and research projects within AFRICOM, CENTCOM and EUCOM areas of responsibilities and its contributions to warfighter health protection and readiness.
NAMRU EURAFCENT also provided insights on persistent military health threats such as diarrhea, influenza, dengue, malaria and multidrug-resistant infectious diseases, which directly affect warfighters and continue to impact operational readiness in deployed settings. Leaders from NAMRU EURAFCENT learned about and discussed the critical importance of MHS strategies to ensure U.S. warfighters are healthy before they go into harm’s way.
“Infectious diseases are a persistent threat to the readiness of our personnel,” said Prouty. “It is our mission at NAMRU EURAFCENT to provide commanders with accurate, actionable infectious disease risk assessments and more importantly, develop novel approaches to mitigate those disease threats.”
NAMRU EURAFCENT showcased the persistent footprint of its team of experts, which includes U.S. military members and locally engaged staff, whose collaborative efforts have enabled access to countries and regions of strategic military interest. This presence safeguards the health of deployed forces in remote areas, ensuring alignment with the MHS Vision: secure operational readiness and protection anytime, anywhere.
“It was informative to sit at the table with the Assistant Secretary. His strategic vision to ensure we have the right resources, aligned requirements, and collaboration with our fellow medical experts within the Department will be beneficial to the future of military medicine during this moment in history,” commented Kinney. “Our biggest takeaway from the ASW-HA was the renewed focus of the MHS on Operational Readiness.”
NAMRU EURAFCENT, part of Navy Medicine Research & Development, conducts research, surveillance and studies of vaccines, therapeutic agents, diagnostic assays and vector control measures in the EUCOM, AFRICOM and CENTCOM Areas of Responsibility to better prevent and treat infectious diseases in support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health, readiness and lethality.
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.17.2025 13:14 |
| Story ID: | 548412 |
| Location: | IT |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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