ZoomiePresents: Grads in Healthcare

Join us on February 3, 2021 for our virtual panel, Grads in Healthcare. The panel will be composed of USAFA graduates who have entered the healthcare industry either after the Academy or after their time in the Air Force and excelled within the industry. The panelists will take you through their journey from USAFA to where they are now, discuss how their time at USAFA played a key role in their success, and why they wanted to be part of such a demanding industry. 

The Panelists:

Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Sean Murphy, MD, '81

Maj. Gen. Sean L. Murphy is the Deputy Surgeon General, Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia. He directs operations of the Air Force Medical Service, composed of a $6.1 billion, 44,000 person integrated health care delivery system serving 2.6 million beneficiaries at 76 military treatment facilities worldwide. He oversees the daily functions of the Air Force Surgeon General's office with offices in Washington, D.C., Fort Detrick, Maryland, Falls Church, Virginia and San Antonio, Texas. He has commanded at the flight, squadron and group levels in both the deployed and home station environments. General Murphy has served at the Joint Combatant Command level as the U.S. Southern Command Surgeon and previously as the Pacific Air Force Command Surgeon, the Air Force Medical Operations Agency Commander and the Air Combat Command Surgeon. General Murphy is a 1981 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and obtained his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland. General Murphy is board certified in pediatrics, qualified in aerospace medicine and has a master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. 

C2C Megan Doherty, '22

Cadet Second Class Magen Doherty is part of the Class of 2022 and a member of Cadet Squadron 4. She is a Biology major with aspirations to attend medical school following graduation. Her extracurriculars include the Triathlon Team, assisting with COVID surveillance testing protocols, as well as synthetic biology research with the USAFA iGEM Team.

Dr. April Sullivan Fitzgerald, BSEE, MD, M.Ed, '87

Dr. April Sullivan Fitzgerald graduated from USAFA in 1987 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. She served as a line officer for 5 years before applying to medical school. She is a 1996 graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She has a Master of Education from Johns Hopkins University. Her USAF reserve attachment was at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences where she continues as adjunct faculty. Dr. Fitzgerald teaches and has her primary faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Maj. Tyson Bertmaring, '05

Tyson is the Head of Partner Success at Dyno Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA, a biotechnology start-up spun out of the George Church Lab which is pioneering an artificial intelligence (AI) powered approach to discover improved viral vectors for gene therapies. Tyson entered the Air Force in 2005 after graduating from the Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Management. Following commissioning he served as an ICBM operator and as a program manager for airborne networking programs while obtaining an MBA from Arizona State University. These experiences prepared Tyson for a transition to program management roles in drug discovery and development in both large and small biotech companies. He continues to serve as a Reservist augmenting the C-130J Program Office at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.

Col. (Ret.) Dr. H. Michael Lambert, MD, FACS, '70

Dr. Mike Lambert graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970 with a major in Physics. After graduation, he completed pilot training and served as a T-38 instructor pilot. He completed and MD degree at Baylor College of Medicine in three years, an internship and residency at Wilford Hall and a fellowship at Duke University in Vitreoretinal Surgery.  He returned to Wilford Hall and  eventually became the Chair, Ophthalmology Residency, Chief, Division of Surgery and Consultant to the Surgeon General.  After working at Emory University and Baylor Coll of Medicine, he founded Retina and Vitreous of Texas.  He is a prolific author and worldwide lecturer. He holds several patents and invented numerous instruments to assist in the complex vitreoretinal surgeries that became his hallmark. He was listed by his peers in Best Doctors, America’s Top Doctors, etc., from their inception until his retirement.  Mike was chosen as a Charter Inductee into the Retina Hall of Fame in 2017 and is most honored to be chosen as a USAFA Distinguished Graduate in 2018. 

Cilla Parkison, MSN, RN, '98

Cilla is a 1998 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and served in support roles including Manpower Officer, Chief of Protocol, and Executive Officer. Her favorite course at USAFA was Freefall Parachuting. After duty stations at Eielson AFB, AK, Randolph AFB, TX, and DLIFLC, Presidio of Monterey, CA, she separated in early 2006 and traveled the world without orders before settling in to work on directing fundraising campaigns in the nonprofit arena. Medicine was always an interest, and Cilla returned to school to become a nurse in June of 2018. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin's Alternate Entry Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program in December of 2020. Cilla lives in Austin, TX with her husband and three children. She currently works in an urgent care clinic part-time, and is looking forward to starting a full-time Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Registered Nurse (RN) residency in early February 2021.