Photo By Maj. Jesse Bien | Lt. Gen. Mary K. Izaguirre, Surgeon General of the U.S. Army and Commander of the U.S....... read more read more
LISBON, Portugal - More than 240 military and civilian medical experts from 23 NATO and partner nations, including senior Portuguese military medical officials, gathered in Lisbon, Portugal Sept. 8-12 for the 32nd Annual Multinational Military Medical Engagement (MMME).
Hosted by the 68th Theater Medical Command, the Portuguese Ministry of Defense and Portuguese Department of Military Medical Services, the theme for this year's Multinational Military Medical Engagement was - “Navigating through the Military Medical Challenges of the 21st Century.”
This year’s medical engagement consisted of a three-day multinational active program that included plenary sessions, breakout sessions and exhibitions aimed to improve interoperability and collaborate on challenges and opportunities currently faced by the military medical community in Europe.
According to event planners, this year’s military medical engagement in Portugal was a complete success, and they were delighted with the support and cooperation offered by allied and partner nations that took part.
“The annual Multinational Military Medical Engagement bolsters international partnerships among our NATO and partner nations,” said Dr. John Casey, global health engagements program manager for Medical Readiness Command, Europe. “It was the perfect opportunity for medical experts to exchange insights, share experiences, and address common challenges. This year’s event was the largest ever with more than 240 attendees from 23 countries taking part.”
Participants came from the United States, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Portugal.
“The complexity of the future battlefield and the persistence of hybrid threats demand a modern, resilient, and interoperable medical force—one that is synchronized with the warfighter and fully integrated across NATO and Allied formations,” said U.S. Army Col. Tracy Michael, commander of 68th Theater Medical Command. “This event provided an opportunity to collaborate, share medical lessons learned, and identify actions we can take now to enhance our medical capabilities and ensure our forces are ready to support large ground scale combat operations. Strengthening partnerships and building trust are vital to keeping this alliance strong and one of the ways we do that is through engagements like this.”
The three-day multinational military medical engagement consisted primarily of breakout sessions on a variety of medical topics including patient evacuation, force health protection, behavioral health practices and emerging threats of infectious disease in the operational environment.
“As I mentioned, our overall goal is to continue to make this alliance better and stronger,” added Michael. “Our adversaries are watching us closely. They know that a modern, resilient, and interoperable medical force is a cornerstone of credible deterrence. They know that our collective ability to sustain the fight and save lives in any theater, under any conditions, is one of NATO’s most decisive advantages. In the months to come, this collaboration will enable us to seize opportunities to train together, improve our planning, and accelerate testing and adapting new systems and capabilities to ensure we are ready for what is next.”
The guest speaker at this year’s Multinational Military Medical Engagement was U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mary Izaguirre, surgeon general for the United States Army.
“Over the past several years, we have seen the character of war change, and that's why we are here, to learn, to adapt and to understand how we can medically support operations no matter where they happen,” said Izaguirre. “Leaders often talk about the future of war. I would challenge us to understand that the future of war is today, and we are the medical professionals who ensure our nations have what it takes for our collective defense. We are made for difficult things, and we will triumph together. We will be successful through trust and collaboration that are built through meetings just like this.”
Planning for the 33rd Annual MMME event is already underway. The exact date and location have yet to be determined.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2025 03:42 |
| Story ID: | 548491 |
| Location: | DE |
| Web Views: | 44 |
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