KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The 2026 Team Medical Europe-Africa (Team MED EUR-AF) Strong Medicine Senior Leader Forum, co-hosted by the Defense Health Network-Europe (DHN-EUR) and Medical Readiness Command, Europe (MRC, EUR) Jan. 21-23, brought together military medical leaders representing a wide-range of medical organizations spanning the military medical enterprise in support of U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM).
Forum participants ranged from commanders and leaders of fixed military medical facilities and operational medical units to senior representatives of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS), and Geographic Combatant Commands. The three-day event aimed to operationalize data for medical organizations operating in, and supporting, the USEUCOM and USAFRICOM areas of responsibility.
The gathering of more than 100 senior U.S. military medical leaders engaged in a series of lengthy discussions designed to identify and explore gaps and barriers in medical data and information systems across the spectrum from fixed medical facilities at home station to the furthest point of injury on the battlefield. The forum focused on identifying gaps in data and information systems that support development of the medical layer of a common operating picture and informed military medical leader decision making during competition, crisis, and conflict environments. More importantly, the participants identified potential solutions to gaps and barriers and drafted a collaborative way ahead to address these issues.
“This year’s forum served as Phase 1 of a longer-term exercise we are calling Exercise Decisive Care,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Roger Giraud, Commander of Medical Readiness Command, Europe and Director of Defense Health Network Europe. “We are losing the data war – full stop. However, by fostering this type of collaboration and communication, we have identified issues, developed potential solutions and have established a collaborative way ahead to regain momentum.”
The participation of Pat Flanders, Chief Information Officer (CIO) & Program Executive Officer for Medical Systems (PEO MS), DHA, and representatives from PEO DHMS were a key part of the discussion during the forum. Brig. Gen. Giraud conveyed his appreciation to Flanders and the PEO DHMS representatives for their support in developing concrete solutions to the gaps and issues identified during the forum.
“We are thankful to have the right people in the room to come together, share insights, and devise solutions to the challenges we face with respect to data and information management systems in the military medical enterprise,” added Giraud.
During his opening remarks, Giraud shared his vision and leadership philosophy with the assembled leaders and emphasized the importance of developing a shared understanding through teamwork and collaboration.
“My intent is that we continue to effectively plan, prepare, and execute our missions – on a continuum - for competition, crisis, and conflict,” said Giraud. “We will continue to provide high-quality healthcare in competition while maintaining readiness to immediately transition through crisis into conflict.”
Throughout the three-day forum, participants engaged in a series of lengthy discussions and presentations focusing on various aspects of the military medical enterprise to include improving the understanding of how data and analytics support timely, more informed decision making and capturing clear, actionable insights and sharing them across the larger military medical enterprise.
According to event planners, this forum will serve as a catalyst for long-term, positive change for medical data and information systems across the military medical infrastructure.
“The collaborative spirit fostered during these discussions underscores a shared commitment to excellence, ensuring that our servicemembers and their families receive the highest quality medical care regardless of where, and in what environment, they serve,” Giraud added. “The bottom line is this – we will win the data war. We have identified issues and drafted potential solutions and established effective partnerships with stakeholders at all levels. These conditions posture us to quickly achieve positive change. We refer to ourselves as Strong Medicine for a reason and we will continue to set the pace as we enable warfighting and care for our people.”
Event planners indicated that this forum will be followed by Phase 2 of Exercise Decisive Care this Spring where Team MED EUR-AF will take what was developed here and test the insights in an exercise environment.