We will be highlighting different members of our chapter. Check back often to learn more!
Lt Col Bradley Beeler
Hematology/Oncology Program Director
Current station: JBSA, Brooke Army Medical Center
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Medical School: Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University
Residency Program: University of Florida
Fellowship Program: SAUSHEC @ BAMC
What I love most about medicine: My love for medicine stems from helping people at their most vulnerable times, this is why I chose oncology and bone marrow transplant. My other passion is resident and fellow education, as PD for Hem/Onc I feel as if I have the best job in the world.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: Water sports with the family. Both kids are in a competitive swim club so this takes up most weekends.
One thing people don’t know about me: During time away from medicine and family, I officiate weddings.
2d Lt Joy Abraham
USU Medical Student
Current station: NSA Bethesda at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, but PCS'ing to Keesler Air Force Base to start IM residency this June.
Hometown: Aurora, CO
Medical School: USU
Residency Program: Heading to Keesler AFB for Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: I love the diversity of IM - from clinic, to wards, to procedures. I also love the diversity of specialties that one can potentially go into for fellowship.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: In my free time, I usually sleep! However, I also love hanging out with my friends, gardening, and going on long drives to get good food.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love gardening and playing board games!
2d Lt Abraham is the recipient of our 2024 Arnyce Pock Medical Student Outstanding Achievement Award in Internal Medicine--congratulations to her and all of her mentors! Joy, a warm welcome to the Internal Medicine community!
2d Lt Zachary K. Matthews
USU Medical Student
Current station: USU in Bethesda, MD, where I will be for a few more weeks until graduation.
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Medical School: USU
Residency Program: I'll be headed to BAMC in San Antonio, TX for Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: My favorite part about medicine is working alongside inspiring colleagues to best serve amazing patients! .
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I really enjoy distance running and am part of a competitive, post-collegiate road/track racing team in Washington, D.C. I also enjoy cycling, working on bikes, cooking, and brewing coffee.
One thing people don’t know about me: Whenever possible, I try to commute to work on foot or by bike.
2d Lt Matthews is the recipient of our 2023 Arnyce Pock Medical Student Outstanding Achievement Award in Internal Medicine--congratulations to him and all of his mentors!
Maj Lauren Lee, MD
Hematologist / Oncologist
Current station: Joint Base San Antonio, TX
Hometown: I consider San Antonio my hometown as I have now lived here the longest, but was born in Maryland.
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine (Go Gators!)
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium
Fellowship Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium
What I love most about medicine: I love that I can establish genuine, trusting, and long-lasting relationships with my patients and provide care during very vulnerable times. I love the intellectual challenge and enjoy learning from each and every patient.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: Running, hiking, skiing, being outdoors, spending time with my husband, children, and friends.
One thing people don’t know about me: I was a division 1 collegiate pole vaulter.
Special Addition
Many ACP and AF-ACP Chapter memberships, past and present, extend into the ACP Air Force Region era. This 1983 San Antonio photograph includes three members of the AF-ACP precursor Society of Air Force Physicians, or more formally, the ACP Air Force Region. These are, George E. Crawford, MD, MACP, FIDSA (behind Wilford Hall commander Mag Gen Vandenbos), George W. Meyer, MD, MACP (above George Crawford’s right shoulder), and David H. Gremillion, MD, FACP, FIDSA (at George’s left).Their past ACP activities include among others, Governorships, Laureates, SAFP Presidents, Philip Keil lectures, many past awards and training program directorships. Each considers their Air Force-ACP experience to have been formative in their post-retirement careers in civilian and academic medicine. ACP involvement helped avoid the professional and academic isolation that sometimes occurs in military careers. At the time of this photo in 1983, the ACP Air Force Region was 21 years old, and the transition to the current AF-ACP Chapter in 2007 was still a quarter century in the future. On the 60th Anniversary of the Air Force ACP Chapter-Region, they celebrate and share their Air Force past.
Maj Bryce Warren, MD, PhD
PGY3 Internal Medicine Resident
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX
Hometown: Spokane, WA (born at Fairchild AFB)
Graduate School: University of Kansas
Medical School: Uniformed Services University (USU)
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine Residency
Fellowship Program: Accepted to San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine (2022 – 2025)
What I love most about medicine: One aspect of medicine that I love is earning the trust of my patients’ with their most important medical concerns.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I enjoy spending time adventuring around with my little family.
One thing people don’t know about me: I played collegiate soccer.
Lt Col Brian Neubauer, MD
Internal Medicine Residency Program Director
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX
Hometown: Pendleton, New York (in between Buffalo and Niagara Falls)
Medical School: The Jacobs School of Medicine at SUNY Buffalo
Residency Program: SAUSHEC, Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: The opportunity to work with both patients and medical trainees and to be in a position to help them achieve their respective goals.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I love spending time with my family and enjoying hobbies like reading, woodworking and cycling.
One thing people don’t know about me: Prior to attending medical school I served for as a flight paramedic for Mercy Flight of WNY and the New York State Police.
Captain Lauren Sweet, MD
PGY3 Internal Medicine Resident
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Medical School: Duke University School of Medicine
Residency Program: Internal Medicine (2020-2023)
What I love most about medicine: I love that medicine allows me to be equal parts advisor and cheerleader in my patient’s lives—getting to support them through difficult health situations and working with them to meet their goals.
Swim, bike, run, travel and take on overly ambitious DIY projects at home.
One thing people don’t know about me: I ran a small non-profit bakery in college..
Capt Elliot Runge, DO
PGY3 Internal Medicine Resident
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX. Next up is Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Nellis Air Force Base
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Medical School: Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine Residency
What I love most about medicine: I love the vast nature of both what we know and what we do not know about interconnectedness of physiology and pathology (and the eventual pursuit to learn it and apply it to clinical practice). I like that there is new research in each respective subject constantly coming out and changing the field. That constant hunt for the diagnosis using differentials and work-up strategies is super fun to me. Seeing your interventions applied to a patient and then their response to aforementioned therapies is both fun and meaningful when trying to help people.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I like to play my violin, listen to music and exercise! I’m a lover of all kinds of movies and I’ve recently taken up cooking as well!
One thing people don’t know about me: I once tried stand-up comedy in college and bombed super hard.
Captain Marc Gutierrez, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
Current station: Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Hometown: Burlington, NC
Medical School: F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Residency Program: Wright Patterson, Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: I love the process of diagnosis and treatment, from starting with a broad differential to eventually finding the correct diagnosis and watching the patient get better in front of my eyes. I also love the bonds I form with my patients and their families as we go through that process of diagnosis and treatment together. I’m reminded every day that practicing medicine is an exercise in community-building.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: In my free time: I’m very into Star Trek: The Next Generation right now. I also love to cook and go for runs after clinic with my co-residents.
One thing people don’t know about me: I was the beatboxer for my college a cappella group at the University of North Carolina.
Major Alexandra Smith, MD, FACC
Internist and Cardiologist
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX. I am the Associate Program Director of the Cardiology Fellowship.
Hometown: My hometown is all over because my mother was a military physician in the Navy. She is an OG of the HPSP program and retired as an 0-6 select. I consider Northern Virginia/Reston my hometown.
Medical School: The University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, VA.
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiology Fellowship.
What I love most about medicine: To help someone on what is often the worst day of their life. To empower patients to feel knowledgeable about their medical conditions and the recommended therapies by having in depth conversations in clinic and on the wards. To teach medical students, residents and fellows how to become competent physicians. To encourage intellectual curiosity in medicine and help learning physicians understand that the practice of medicine is an art and not a science. To encourage underrepresented minorities and women to not be discouraged by systemic inequities from following their dreams.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: In my free time I LOVE to hang out with friends, cook new recipes, workout (the Peloton app and my NordicTrack bike are clutch), and to TRAVEL around the world learning about different cultures.
One thing people don’t know about me: The most important thing I want people to know about me is that I REALLY care. I do not care about the color of your skin, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, or anything you can think of that might make one be labeled as an "other". If you are a patient, understand that you deserve excellent care and to feel as comfortable as possible in an uncomfortable situation (i.e. requiring the care of a Cardiologist). For my learners as well, I want medical students, residents and fellows to know they have someone they can turn to for both educational and emotional support. This of course extends to my colleagues and anyone I have the pleasure of knowing. We have one life to live and should use it to spread kindness and compassion to each other.
Major Valerie Bedsole, MD
Internal Medicine Physician
Current station: Fort Gordon, GA. I am the embedded physician on an Airman Resiliency Team for the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group. Our team supports the airmen who primarily work at the NSA. In addition to 25% clinical work, I am a medical consultant for our commander and provide an operational medical function for the airmen. I came from Wright Patterson Medical Center where I was a teaching faculty and IM clinic physician.
Hometown: Aiken, South Carolina (35 minutes from my current duty station!
Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: I love putting details together to create a clinically cohesive story and then the challenge of explaining the medical complexities to patients in a manner that allows for shared decision making.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I enjoy cooking and I'm having fun teaching my young kids how to help in the kitchen. We have a crew of a 6 month old, 2 year and 4 year old.
One thing people don’t know about me: In middle school, I was nationally recognized for an essay I wrote on our founding fathers by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Double Feature!! Captain Francis B. Essien, DO and Captain Levi W. Dodge, MD
Staff Internists
Current station: Travis Air Force Base
Hometown: Essien - Columbus, Ohio, Dodge - Helena, MT
Medical School: Essien - Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dodge - Medical School Western University of Health Sciences
Residency Program: Keesler Medical Center
What I love most about medicine: Essien - I can never learn enough and it humbles me on daily basis. Dodge - Honestly, I love learning the science/pathology of Medicine and using it to help people, plus being able to take part in such an important part of people's lives is a privilege.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: Essien - I love bodybuilding and reading. Dodge - Everyone says they're into the outdoors but I truly am a mountain man. If I didn't do medicine I would probably be living in some cave along a mountain side with my pet mountain goat named ranger.
One thing people don’t know about me: Essien - I was born in Ghana, Africa despite not having much of an accent anymore. Dodge - If you were walking down a hospital floor hallway there is a chance you would see me on both ends. That is because I am an Identical twin and my brother is also a physician in the Air Force.
Captain Craig M. Yugawa, MD
Internal Medicine Resident and Air Force DEI Champion
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston
Hometown: Kaneohe, HI
Medical School: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: I love the “A-HA” moment that comes when you distill a complex patient problem list into a unifying diagnosis (diagnoses) and are able to see improvement with the appropriate treatment.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: I love to watch, play and write about sports as much as I can. I also hope to eat my way through as many countries as possible.
One thing people don’t know about me: While serving an LDS Church Mission in South Africa, I was bitten by a (baby) lion and have the (tiny) scar to prove it!
Captain Lauren A. Sattler, MD
Internal Medicine Chief Resident
Current station: Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston
Hometown: Hanover, New Hampshire
Medical School: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Residency Program: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Internal Medicine
What I love most about medicine: Medicine was a calling for me in many of the same ways that it was for a lot of us—improving the lives of others through healing, constantly learning more about physiology and pathology, daily leadership opportunities—but what I’ve found to be the most unique aspect of medicine is that it provides a window into the full breadth of the human experience. On a daily basis, we as physicians are entrusted with the opportunity to interact with other human beings, complete strangers, and empathize with them during perhaps the most difficult and frightening times in their lives. I can’t think of a more important or meaningful honor.
What I enjoy doing in my free time: My favorite activities outside of medicine are spending time with my two huskies and my husband, running, and cooking. I also enjoy reading (not always for work!), mostly historical fiction and novels.
One thing people don’t know about me: Despite being an Air Force officer, I am surprisingly very afraid of flying. I hate landing most of all and my husband usually uses this as an opportunity to take embarrassing pictures of my terrified face.