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As an enlisted member of the U.S. Army, Vice Admiral Mateczun volunteered for training in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School at Indian Head, Md. He served two tours of duty in the Republic of Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of University Studies degree from the University of New Mexico where he was elected to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve during his senior year.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun completed postgraduate training in Psychiatry at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Oakland, Calif. He concurrently completed requirements for a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

 

After completing training, Vice Admiral Mateczun was assigned as Division Psychiatrist, 3d Marine Division, Okinawa, Japan, where he also served as the Assistant Division Surgeon. He was then assigned to the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Md., as a staff physician. While there he became the Intern Advisor and Transitional Intern Program Director. Vice Admiral Mateczun was selected as a Navy Astronaut Candidate and screened for Medical Director assignment.

 

During his off duty hours, he completed requirements for a law degree at Georgetown University Law Center. Vice Admiral Mateczun became the most junior officer to become chairman of a training program in Navy psychiatry when assigned as Chairman of Psychiatry at the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Va. During that assignment, he was the Officer in Charge of a support team sent to the Persian Gulf in support of USS Vincennes. He also organized and directed mental health support activities for the crew and families of USS Iowa.

 

Reassigned to the National Naval Medical Center as Chairman of Psychiatry, Vice Admiral Mateczun became the Acting Director of Medical Services during Operation Desert Shield. During Operation Desert Storm, he was assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force in Saudi Arabia as consultant on the establishment and operation of Combat Stress Centers. He was a medical crew-member on the first flight that retrieved repatriating Prisoners of War in Amman, Jordan. When Desert Storm personnel returned to the National Naval Medical Center he was appointed Director of Medical Services.

 

Subsequently assigned as the Force Surgeon, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, in Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii, Vice Admiral Mateczun was responsible for planning and coordinating the contingency wartime health services for the 80,000 U.S. Marines stationed in the Pacific.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun then assumed duties as the first Chief of Staff for Tricare Region 1 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was responsible for planning for the coordination of military health care services in the Northeast United States with 1.1 million beneficiaries, three medical centers, 11 hospitals and 43 clinics and operating expenses of $1.25 billion per year as well as insurance expenses of $243 million per year.

 

Assigned to the Department of Defense, he was appointed Principal Director for Clinical Services by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. His duties included policy formulation on clinical matters, including graduate medical education, quality management, military public health and health promotion in the $15 billion Defense Health Program providing health services to 8.1 million beneficiaries. Jointly selected by the Service Surgeons General to become the first Chief Medical Officer for the Tricare Management Activity, he was key to the initial organizational efforts of that Defense Agency.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun then assumed command of the Naval Hospital in Charleston, S.C. Under his leadership, the command earned the Department of Defense Access Award and the Team Award for Reinventing Government from the Federal Executive Association. He was selected for promotion to flag rank and assigned to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery as Assistant Chief for Health Care Operations where he was responsible for health care delivery in the Navy's direct care system of 25 hospitals and 135 Medical and Branch Clinics.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun was then selected to be the Joint Staff Surgeon, J4, The Joint Staff and Medical Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the United States delegate to the NATO Committee of Chiefs of Medical Services. He was present in the Pentagon on 9/11/01 and subsequently served on the Joint Staff during Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Following this J4 tour, Vice Admiral Mateczun was the Chief of Staff and Program Executive Officer at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

 

He was selected for promotion to Rear Admiral and assumed command of the Naval Medical Center San Diego, the military’s largest academic Medical Center employing 6,200 military, civilians and contractors with an operating budget of $380 million. Under his leadership, Naval Medical Center San Diego deployed over 1,000 personnel in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Unified Assistance. The Medical Center also received, treated and rehabilitated over 200 wounded Marines and Sailors.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun previously served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy and the Vice Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery where he envisioned and implemented the regional command structure of Navy Medicine. He was also the Director of the Military Health System of Transformation chartered by the Deputy Secretary of Defense to accelerate and enhance organizational change.

 

Vice Admiral Mateczun is board certified in Adult Psychiatry as well as Forensic Psychiatry and is a Certified Physician Executive. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has been an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He has an academic appointment as Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.