Colonel Cassandra Howard, M.D. currently serves as the Vice-President, Chief Medical Officer (VP/CMO) for Methodist LeBonheur Germantown Hospital. Prior to her June 2017 appointment as VP/CMO, she served as the Medical Director of the Emergency Department (ED) at the same facility, while also working as a Staff Physician in the ED. “I have been an ED provider since 2003,” she says. She is also a member of the Tennessee Air National Guard, serving as the State Air Surgeon (Colonel, 0-6), assigned to Joint Forces Headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Her responsibilities in this role include advising on all issues pertinent the Air National Guard’s medical readiness and response operations within the state of Tennessee and also at the national level. “I enlisted at the encouragement of my father, (now retired) who was an active KC-135, Air Refueling Pilot in the 128th Airlift Wing, WI ANG,” she says. “I joined the 128th Airlift Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard (WI ANG) in 1987 while in high school, and I enlisted as an entry level (Airman Basic, E-1), Aerospace Medicine Technician (a Flight Medic).”
Above: Dr. Howard State Air Surgeon (Colonel, 0-6), assigned to Joint Forces Headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, 2016.
Throughout her 31-year carrer, Dr. Howard has served in multiple ANG units, including the WI ANG (1987-1989), DC ANG (1989 1994), back to the WI ANG (1994-2000) and TN ANG (2000 to present). “My unit transfers were driven by education (undergraduate school in D.C. and medical school in Wyomming) and medical training needs (internship and residency in Tennessee) in other states,” she says.
Her service is varied, but it has been primarily within the ANG Medical Service. “I enlisted as an Aerospace Medicine Technician and Above: Dr. Howard, Courtesy ANG served for nearly 10 Above: Dr. Howard 2004 years in the enlisted corp, achieving the rank of Technical Sergeant (E-6). I later joined the Medical Corp upon becoming a Commissioned Officer (1996),” she says. 16
The Memphis Medical Society Quarterly