New leader of traumatic brain injury center brings combat experience to job

Navy Capt. Paul Hammer, who takes over as director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury in January 2011, brings a wealth of experience to his new job, including a combat tour with Bravo Surgical Company with the Marines in 2004 during the battle for Fallujah.

Hammer, currently director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, talked via e-mail recently to Nextgov about his early service as an enlisted Marine, his decision to go to medical school after four years with the Marines, his combat experience from two Iraq tours and his general plans for his new post.

Q: Why did you enlist in the Marine Corps?

A: I enlisted out of high school because I really didn't feel ready to go to college. I was the oldest of eight kids and felt some responsibility about not wasting my parent's money going to college to "find myself." My decision to join the Marine Corps was one of the best decisions of my life.

My [military occupational specialty] was 2851, aviation radio repairman. I went to boot camp at Parris Island, then radio school at Twentynine Palms and then back to South Carolina, where I was stationed at Marine Air Control Squadron-5. Then, Okinawa [Japan], where I was at Marine Air Support Squadron-2.

Q: Why did you become a doctor?

A: I was finishing up my four-year enlistment in Okinawa, when I started to consider what I wanted to do next in life. Two things happened. I talked with my dad, who told me I was having too much fun, and if I didn't go and get my education then I never would get around to it. He was right.

I also read the book, The Making of a Surgeon. That's where the thought of becoming a physician first started to germinate. All of this led to me deciding to get out, go to college and become a physician.

Q: Why psychiatry?

A: I initially wanted to be a surgeon, but I found that I really didn't enjoy being in the hospital all the time as much as surgeons do. I liked psychiatry, found it interesting and seemed to be kind of good at it. So I gravitated in that direction, eventually doing a psychiatry internship and then psychiatry residency. This turned out to be a great decision as I can honestly say that at 53, I could have never imagined a more fascinating and fulfilling care path.

Q: Will your combat experience help in your new job?

A: Absolutely. I have seen both psychologically traumatic events and TBI up close and personally. These are not merely interesting academic constructs to me; they are real and represent real people I have treated.

Having been all over al Anbar province, having seen severely wounded service members up close, having had to inform leaders their men died, having had to struggle to treat repeatedly concussed Marines during the battle for Fallujah, riding in Humvees on the Iraq-Syria border, going out to do interventions on forward operating bases -- all this is relevant to what really goes on to help our service members.

My focus will be on ensuring that what we do has impact on helping injured service members. My experience in both the field and as an administrator will aid in this endeavor.

Q: What are your priorities when you take over as director?

A: My first and foremost priority is ensuring a seamless transfer of leadership and developing an understanding of the people who make it work. My ultimate priority [at the Defense Centers of Excellence] will consist of sustaining its mission of discovering innovative practices to prevent head injuries, build mental health resiliency and successfully reintegrate service members back into the force, or civilian community.