DVIDS – News – NMFDC discusses innovation, technology at annual conference

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – Command teams from across the Naval Medical Forces Development Command Region came together to improve processes and propose innovative ideas to better develop and deliver naval medical forces to the U.S. Navy, here, Oct. 22-23, 2024.

“I wanted to bring all the command teams together and remind them how vital we are to the Navy Medicine Enterprise,” Rear Adm. Walter Brafford, commander of NMFDC said. “Having everyone together in one place helps consolidate our mission and enhances the fact that we must work together to meet the ever-changing environment.”

The command is the designated training agent for the Bureau of Navy Medicine and develops and delivers integrated education and training to all Maritime Medical Forces; and is looking into innovative technologies to enhance how it accomplishes its mission.

“We are testing and researching how augmented and virtual reality platforms can give our Sailors close to real life scenarios and provide that cutting edge in how we develop, train, educate and prepare them for the fleet,” Brafford said. “Getting after efforts like this not only upgrades the development of our medical profesionals, but it also enables us to more quickly flex when new requirements come our way.”

Which fits into this year’s conference theme, ‘New Capabilities to Meet Emerging Requirements,’ Brafford added.

Command teams from the Navy Medicine Operational Training Command, Navy Medicine Training Support Command, Naval Medical Leader and Professional Development Command and NMFDC reserve were in attendance at the annual conference and appreciated the face-to-face interaction and the forum to share what they do for the region.

“Devoting two days to in-person discussions is necessary to effectively share information and best practices, while identifying common barriers,” Capt. Katherine Shobe, commanding officer for NMLPDC said. “We were glad to increase awareness on not only what we do to support force generation and development, but on how the other commands do so as well.”

Capt. Nichole Olson, commanding officer of NMOTC said she felt the most important part of the conference was the ability to network together.

“We were able to discuss common issues and how we can solve them,” she said. “It was also great to hear that we all share a common goal to leverage technology and innovation to develop our forces.”

The Naval Medical Forces Development Command and its subordinate commands have a very diverse mission centered around force development, but all are interconnected and working towards the same goal, Brafford said.

“I’m looking forward to what NMFDC is going to look like as we grow together as a region to better develop and produce the best-educated, most professionally-trained and most operationally-trained medical forces across all of DOD!”