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  • Image of a field hospital.

    SOUTHCOM International Health Specialists enhance impact of COVID-19 response donations through training, coordination

    International Health Specialists are collaborating with the Pan-American Health Organization, a regional component of the World Health Organization, to better mobilize, operate and sustain COVID-19 pandemic response donations to partner nations.
  • Graphic of photos with text overlaid.

    Air Force celebrates 20 years of International Health Specialist program

    Over the past 20 years, the U.S. Air Force’s International Health Specialist program has played a key role in transforming global health engagement, giving it a new structure and purpose. As the program has matured, its impact on global health engagement has grown.
  • Staff Sgt. Mo Gadiaga,U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa cultural adviser, speaks with airmen from the Mauritanian air force during African Partnership Flight in Dakar, Senegal, June 16, 2014. USAFE-AFAFRICA Airmen are in Senegal for APF, a program designed to improve communication and interoperabilty between regional partners in Africa. The African partners include Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria and Niger with the U.S. helping with organization. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Staff Sgt. Ryan Crane)

    Air Force International Health Specialists needed for whole-of-government solutions

    U.S. Air Force International Health Specialists are known for our geopolitical expertise and health diplomacy, but we are also skilled in facilitating whole-of-government operations.
  • Michael Young, Chief Executive Officer, Temple Health, discusses Temple University Hospital operations with U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Chad P. Franks, Task Force-Southeast commander, at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, April 27, 2020. Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force 352-1, a U.S. Army Reserve medical task force, is augmenting six Philadelphia area hospitals and the Temple Coronavirus Surge Facility to support Philadelphia COVID-19 relief efforts. U.S. Northern Command, through U.S. Army North, is providing military support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help communities in need. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Adrian Patoka)

    Air Force International Health Specialists bring experience to pandemic response

    International Health Specialists' experience in global health engagements proved important to support the Department of Defense’s relief efforts to state health care systems fighting COVID-19. The Ninth Air Force-led Task Force-Southeast provided defense support of civil authorities within Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, regions III and IV. The task force’s largest mission was delivering support to a COVID-19 alternate care site set up at Temple University in Philadelphia that served as an overflow medical facility. Several International Health Specialists brought experience in global health engagements to support the task force’s establishment and mission.
  • U.S. Air Force Maj. Melissa Legowski, nurse practitioner from the 99th Medical Group at Nellis Air Force Base, briefs Guyanese nurses during a lecture at the Linden Mackenzie Hospital during New Horizons exercise 2019 in Linden, Guyana, June 13, 2019. The New Horizons exercise 2019 provides U.S. military members an opportunity to train for an overseas deployment and the logistical requirements it entails. The exercise promotes bilateral cooperation by providing opportunities for U.S. and partner nation military engineers, medical personnel and support staff to work and train side by side. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Derek Seifert)

    A look into the future: Embedded Health Engagement Teams

    International Health Specialists from 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) are piloting a new global health engagement model to improve health and readiness for U.S. military forces and partner nations.
  • U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jessica Cowden, Infectious Disease Programs chief with the Defense Institute for Medical Operations, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, poses for a photo with the NATO Mission Iraq Embedded Training Team during the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, June 25, 2019. The team, which included military members from Iraq, Australia, and Denmark, participated in a meeting to discuss standardized combat lifesaver training and standard equipment lists for training. Cowden deployed as an International Health Specialist, providing a foundation for improved medical security cooperation in Iraq. (Courtesy photo)

    Air Force International Health Specialist builds medical capability in Iraq

    In June, a public health professional serving as an International Health Specialist deployed to Iraq as part of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve.
  • From left, U.S. Air Force Maj. Adam Hebdon, Maj. Cherielynne Gabriel, and Lt. Col. Kristen Soltis-Tyler pose after receiving their Master in Public Health degrees from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, June 20, 2019. The graduates will go on to be International Health Specialists at U.S. Air Force Air Component Commands. USUHS’s MPH program offers a concentration in Global Health, equipping graduates with the skills they need as IHSs. (Courtesy photo)

    USU Masters in Public Health prepares International Health Specialists

    Three 2019 graduates of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ Master of Public Health program will serve at U.S. Air Force Air Component Commands as International Health Specialists.
  • Then-Capt. Jason Mommaerts (center), U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa International Health Specialist, teaches a class of 25 Romanian Land Forces medics on the different types of training objectives at a military medical center in Cluj Napoca, Romania, December 11, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Col. Peter Vekszler)

    NATO-IHS collaboration proves valuable for building partner capability and interoperability

    The U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa International Health Specialist team has partnered with the NATO Center of Excellence for Military Medicine to improve interoperability with partner nations and increase force readiness. Since 2017, the two organizations have collaboratively produced a First Responder Train-the-Trainer program designed to navigate language barriers between trainers and trainees. The FRTT course provides medical personnel with the skills needed to train others at varying levels to administer emergency medical care as first responders.
  • U.S. Air Force Capt. Ricardo Sequeira, 628th Medical Operations Support Squadron and 14th Airlift Squadron flight surgeon, Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, right, talks to a member of the Honduran air force about flight medicine during an aerospace medicine subject matter expert exchange in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 4. The goal of the global health exchange is to share best practices, enhance relationships, and build partnership capacities.

    Airmen use special experience to foster relationships during Global Health Engagement

    A team of five Airmen, two with a special experience identifier earned through the International Health Specialist (IHS) program, traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to work side-by-side with their Honduran air force counterparts during a subject matter expert exchange here, April 3. Airmen with an IHS certification were able to provide diversified international skills and knowledge of military and civilian health disciplines used to facilitate the five-day engagement by enabling flight medicine knowledge to be shared across a language barrier, which helps strengthen partnerships.
  • Col Alan Chambers (pictured center), former Director of AFMS International Health Specialist program, at an Acupuncture Exchange between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese military, at the Uniformed Services University (USU). On his left is Maj Andre Mach, IHS liaison, and on his right, a Senior Chinese Army official. (Bethesda, MD, December 2015.) Partnership exchanges like these are at the core of IHS program activities, sharing different approaches to medical practices and building relationships.

    Former IHS Director used twenty years of medical experience to further program goals

    How does one find their way into a career as an Air Force Medical Service International Health Specialist? For Col. Alan Chambers, the former IHS program director, he knew at the young age of twelve that he wanted to work in the international health care realm. At least, he knew he wanted to make a difference in the world through medicine. He was
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