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Dr. Tanisha L. Hammill

Dr. Tanisha L. Hammill is the Chief Scientist, the senior most scientific advisor to the Air Force Surgeon General, the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, located in the Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia. She is responsible for developing the Air Force Medical Service strategic vision for medical requirements, research and development, acquisition & sustainment. She advises on collaboration and resource coordination across Service, Joint, Federal and international organizations, integrating research priorities with strategic guidance derived from Service and Department of Defense leaders. The Chief Scientist provides guidance to planning, programming and budgetary processes that implement AFMS programs, and is responsible for outcomes which include iterative and recursive evolution of the AFMS R&D strategy, plans, and investment lifecycle harmonization across the Line of the Air Force, AFMS and Joint programs. Dr. Hammill provides guidance to influence more than $2 billion in annual military medical research and development funding for scientific advancements that will prepare Air Force medics and warfighters for the future fight.

With a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies and Ethics from the Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Dr. Hammill began her military support career with the Navy Medical Center San Diego, conducting laboratory, pre-clinical, and clinical auditory and vestibular research. She completed a Master of Arts in Public Health with a focus in Administration from the San Diego State University in 2005, and transitioned in 2009 to the DoD Hearing Center of Excellence in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Hammill then earned her Ph.D. in Translational Science from the University of Texas with a focus and dissertation exploring pharmaceutical interventions for hearing loss. She transitioned into DHA R&D (J-9) Headquarters in 2019 to spearhead the Science & Technology Management Process project, to design and implement the concept of operations for new business processes to manage the $2 billion MHS medical S&T portfolio, and establish the DHA’s transition management team charged with executing the historic NDAA-mandated transition and consolidation of medical R&D across the enterprise under DHA.

She has earned professional certifications as a Clinical Research Administrator and Project Management Professional and is currently pursuing Defense Acquisition University certification in Program Management. She is married to a US Marine Corps veteran with one son at home.

EDUCATION

2001 Bachelor of Arts, Emphasis in Religion, Minor in Philosophy, University of California, San Diego, Calif.
2003 Master of Arts in Religion, Emphasis in Theology of Ethics, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, Calif.
2007 Master of Public Health, Emphasis in Administration, San Diego State University, Calif.
2017 Doctor of Philosophy, Translational Science, Joint Program: University of Texas at Austin (home institution), UT Health Sciences Center San Antonio, UT School of Public Health at Houston - San Antonio Regional Campus, Texas

ASSIGNMENTS

1. September 2002 - June 2003, Adjunct Instructor, Grossmont Community College, El Cajon, Calif.
2. September 2004 - 2011, CEO, TLC Research Solutions, LLC, supporting Spatial Orientation Center, Naval Medical Center San Diego, Calif.
3. May 2011 - July 2018, Sr. Research Administrator, Research Coordination Branch Lead, Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence (contractor), San Antonio, Texas
4. July 2018 - July 2019, Chief, Research Coordination Branch, Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence, Defense Health Agency, San Antonio, Texas
5. July 2019 - September 2021, Sr. Health Scientist, Defense Health Headquarters, Research and Development; Falls Church, Va.
6. September 2021 - May 2023, Chief, Capability Development Division, Office of the Surgeon General, Air Force Medical Readiness Agency, Department of the Air Force, Falls Church, Va.
7. June 2023 - Present, Chief Scientist, Office of the Surgeon General, Air Force Medical Readiness Agency, Department of the Air Force, Falls Church, Va.

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

2015 UTHSCSA Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences President's Initiative in Women's Health scholarship recipient
2006 Federal Lab Consortium for Technology Transfer Award for Excellence. “Treatment of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Through Biologic Mechanisms.” Department of Defense, Naval Medical Center San Diego, Spatial Orientation Center.

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

2021 Defense Acquisition Leadership Academy, Defense Acquisition University
2019-2020 National Hearing Conservation Association, Program Chair
2012 Project Management Professional Certification
2007 Clinical Research Administration Certification

PUBLICATIONS

  • “Pharmacological rescue of noise induced hearing loss using N-acetylcysteine and acetyl-L-carnitine,” Hearing Research, 2007
  • “Multisensory Injury and Integrated Care,” Pyschiatric Annals, June 2013
  • VA/DoD Collaboration Guidebook for Healthcare Research, Revision 1, 2013 (original release 2011)
  • “The Department of Defense Epidemiologic and Economic Burden of Hearing Loss Study,” Military Medicine, 2014
  • “Economic Burden of Hearing Loss for the U.S. Military: A Proposed Framework for Estimation,” Military Medicine, 2014
  • “Hearing Center of Excellence: Pharmacological Interventions for Hearing Loss. DoD Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE) PIHL Newsletter vol.3, January 2013
  • “Efficacy and safety of N-acetylcysteine in prevention of noise induced hearing loss: A randomized clinical trial,” Hearing Research, May 2015
  • “The impact of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury on quality of life in the active-duty military population: challenges to the study of this issue,” Military Medicine, 2015
  • “Temporary and Permanent Noise-induced Threshold Shifts: A Review of Basic and Clinical Observations,” Otology & Neurotology, 2016
  • “Guidelines for Auditory Threshold Measurement for Significant Threshold Shift,” Otology & Neurotology, 2016
  • “Introduction to the Pharmaceutical Interventions for Hearing Loss Clinical Research Guidance Papers,” Otology & Neurotology, 2016
  • “A review of the progress and pitfalls of FDA policy process: Planning a pathway for pharmaceutical interventions for hearing loss development,” Hearing Research, Nov 2016
  • “Research 101: An Initiative to Encourage and Facilitate Quality Resident Research in a Military Setting,” Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2017
  • “Editorial: Auditory injury - A military perspective,” Hearing Research, 2017
  • “An evidence-base and implementation framework for promoting best practices in pharmaceutical interventions for hearing loss (PIHL) research,” Dissertation, University of Texas, 2017
  • “Protection for medication-induced hearing loss: the state of the science,” International Journal of Audiology, 2018
  • “I’m Wearing My Hearing Protection-Am I Still At Risk for Hearing Loss? Lurking Ototoxins in the Military Environment,” Military Medicine, 2019
  • “Role of the US Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence in studying the treatment of tinnitus,” JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, 2019
  • “Impact of Tinnitus on Military Service Members. Military Medicine, 2019
  • “Decreased sound tolerance associated with blast exposure,” Scientific reports, 2019
  • “Characterization of acute hearing changes in United States military populations,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019
  • “Octave band noise exposure: Laboratory models and otoprotection efforts,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019
  • “Noise-induced hearing loss: Translating risk from animal models to real-world environments,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019
  • “Noise-induced hearing loss and its prevention: Integration of data from animal models and human clinical trials,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Society of Research Administrators International
Association of Clinical Research Professionals
Society of Clinical Research Associates
Project Management Institute
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery
American Academy of Audiology
Association for Research in Otolaryngology
National Hearing Conservation Association (2020 Program Chair)

(Current as of June 2023)