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Defense Institute for Medical Operations (DIMO) celebrates 10th birthday, holds Strategic Planning Meeting

  • Published
  • Air Force Surgeon General office
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  Representatives from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Joint Staff Surgeon's office, Air Staff, U.S. Army Medical Command, and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine gathered recently at Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland for a strategic planning meeting held in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Defense Institute for Medical Operations (DIMO).

In their opening comments at the conference, Col. Mylene Huynh, U.S. Air Force Medical Readiness Global Health Division chief, and Col. Tim Pendergrass, DIMO director, noted that the Institute supports national security through global health engagement.

Huynh emphasized the importance of global health engagement as a component of stability operations, promoting national, regional and global security. She noted that, in a decade, DIMO has reached more than 7,800 students from 124 countries and is recognized for the quality of its mobility training teams (MTTs). Pendergrass commented that medicine provides a common focus area that allows multiple partners to work together towards common goals, building trust, confidence and regional stability.

DIMO was formed in 2002 when the Air Force's Institute for Global Health and the Navy Post Graduate School's Defense Healthcare Management Institute merged. Today's institute is jointly manned by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force with the Air Force as Executive Agent. Originally located at Brooks City-Base, DIMO was placed under the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in 2004. The Institute moved to Lackland AFB in 2011 and is now aligned with the Air Force Medical Support Agency (AFMSA).

DIMO develops and fields medical education and training courses that build and enhance partner nation capabilities to provide critical national and regional support. Focus areas include disaster response, medical support to humanitarian assistance operations, deployment medicine, and infectious disease and bioterrorism mitigation. DIMO recruits subject matter experts from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and other government agencies, using a whole-of-government approach in building evidence-based, relevant courses.

Mobile training teams, recruited from all branches of the military and several government institutions, teach the courses in the partner nations with most courses lasting about a week. The Institute also conducts some resident courses in San Antonio, Texas, annually, bringing military and medical leadership from partner nations together to examine policies on regional issues such as HIV/AIDS and Gender Based Violence.

On the 10th year anniversary, DIMO was recognized by DSCA for its unwavering support. In turn, DIMO praised the numerous volunteer course directors and instructors and the many interagency partners for their commitment to excellence in support of international military medical training. As a result of the strategic plan, DIMO will continue to innovate and posture to be even more agile and effective in meeting the national security objectives in future years.