For Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Alicia Williams, U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research’s multi-faceted mission provides opportunities as a surgeon and a medical professional and truly lives up to the institute’s tenants of research, clinical care, and education.
Williams serves as the chief medical officer for the Army Burn Flight Team, which is part of USAISR's Burn Center located at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, and consists of an acutely trained doctor, nurse, and a respiratory therapist. The team has conducted nearly 100 overseas missions since 2003 and can deploy globally within 12 hours. They can provide in-flight care for both military and civilian patients.
"We transport burned, injured warfighters from overseas. We're essentially the Army's version of the Air Force Critical Care Air Transport team," explained Williams, who is also a general and burn surgeon at USAISR. "We are available to pick up burn patients anywhere in the world. We will come pick up any active-duty service member who suffers a serious burn."
Looking toward better interoperability, the Army Burn Flight Team recently started cycling personnel through the Air Force's CCAT course.
"The goal is to eventually be able to do joint missions, with everyone on the Burn Flight Team being CCAT qualified," said Williams. "Right now, we're in the process of figuring out how the flight team and CCAT can work best together on training and going out and getting patients."
Williams explained how events like a future Joint Emergency Medical Exercise will give the flight team a chance to work closer with their Air Force counterparts.
Aside from the flight team, the team at USAISR consists of multiple general and specialized burn surgeons, the latter being Williams' area of expertise.
"I see what a general surgeon sees, but I also see patients in the [burn] ward, the intensive care unit and the clinic who have burned themselves, have necrotizing soft tissue infections or frostbite," said Williams.
She also explained how the recent unexpected winter storm that struck Texas resulted in an uptick in both frostbite and fire-related injuries at both the USAISR and in Brooke Army Medical Center's emergency room – also located at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.