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Air Force nurse corps chief and medical leader retires after 34 years

  • Published
  • By Larine Barr
  • Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs
BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFNS) --  In a ceremony filled with lifetime friends and colleagues, Maj. Gen. Kimberly A. Siniscalchi, 15th Assistant Air Force Surgeon General, Medical Force Development, and Chief of the Nurse Corps, retired Aug. 9 after 34 years of service.

Retired Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Charles B. Green, the 20th Air Force Surgeon General, officiated at the ceremony and thoughtfully reminisced about Siniscalchi's exceptional Air Force career. From her first assignment as a young 1st Lieutenant, he noted while reading excerpts from her performance reports, she stood out as an outstanding nurse and future leader. Every report echoed the statement: "She's the best nurse I've ever worked with, the best I've seen." And this was an enduring theme throughout her distinguished career.

Through her leadership in her current position, General Siniscalchi enabled 34,000 medical personnel to care for more than 2.6 million patients worldwide. As chair of the Medical Education and Training Campus Board of Governors, she directed the historic merger of 64 distinct medical training programs from three services into one joint institution, creating the largest enlisted medical education campus in the world. Siniscalchi also maximized medical personnel recruiting and retention by directing the reallocation of dollars and scholarship quotas between the corps, which led to record increases in health professions recruitment, eliminating long-standing personnel shortages in multiple career fields.

During the ceremony, Green presented Siniscalchi with the Distinguished Service Medal, and personal letters of appreciation from President Obama, the former Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force Chief of Staff.

In her remarks, General Siniscalchi said the most important part of her career was the people she served and developing tomorrow's leaders. One of her fondest memories is supporting two presidents, George H.W. Bush and William Clinton, as the Air Force nurse assigned to the White House Medical Unit, from 1990 to 1993.

She closed by thanking her husband, Joseph, for his devotion, and recognizing her daughter, Lauren, who followed in her mother's footsteps as a newly commissioned Air Force nurse.

Siniscalchi was commissioned in 1979 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Pittsburgh, Pa. Her leadership experience spans command at eight locations and deployment as commander of the 380th Expeditionary Medical Group. She is a recipient of the prestigious 2013 American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, and selected for fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing.