Run-Off Vote

We are down to two nominees for the Sears Award. The voting is very tight this year, which means that every vote counts. If the nominee you voted for in the primary did not make it to the run-off, please vote again. If you have not voted yet, please select from one of the two nominees below. And please encourage your colleagues to vote.

Captain Robert Koffman graduated with a B.S. Degree from Whittier College in 1976. He received his Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1982 and his MPH Degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1995. He completed residencies in psychiatry in 1991 and aerospace and preventive medicine in 1997. With a demonstrated interest in psychiatric epidemiology, CAPT Koffman's dedication to improve the delivery of mental health care in operational settings is noteworthy. He implemented one of the first Naval Combat Stress Centers during Operation Desert Storm sixteen years ago. Over more than two decades, CAPT Koffman's largely operational career has spanned a wide variety of clinical and operational settings, including serving at Antarctica's McMurdo Station (Operation Deep Freeze), embarked aboard aircraft carriers and amphibious vessels, and most recently, several deployments to Al Anbar Province, Iraq. As a former Marine Division Psychiatrist, he helped champion and develop the current OSCAR program. CAPT Koffman deployed during OIF-1 as the first Combat Stress Control (CSC) Consultant for First Marine Expeditionary Force. As the Seabee Force Surgeon, he pioneered a revolutionary in-country three-day Warrior Transition redeployment program now considered the gold standard for Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Collaborating with the VA, CAPT Koffman is a member of the VA's Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECC 6), and he was also a member of the blue ribbon panel that crafted the current ASD/PTSD Clinical Practice Guidelines. He is frequently consulted as the Navy's expert in operational psychiatry by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and has collaborated on numerous studies and projects (Hoge et al) to include the Mental Health Assessment Teams (MHAT). Personally recruited and selected to stand up Navy Medicine's first Combat and Operational Stress Control Consult position at BUMED, Capt Koffman continues to ensure that the behavioral health needs of the war fighter are understood and met. Vote Here.

Captain Brian Smullen was graduated from the University of Steubenville in 1972 with a B.A. Degree in Psychology. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant and a Good Conduct Medal in 1982. He attended The Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine on Navy scholarship and received his M.D. degree in 1988. He performed his internship in family practice at Naval Hospital Charleston, then trained in psychiatry at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. He performed his utilization tour at Naval Air Station Adak, Alaska, where he served as staff psychiatrist and emergency room duty medical officer from 1992 to 1994. During his next assignment he taught in the residency training program and served as an inpatient attending for four years at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. In 1998 he was ordered to Naval Medical Clinic London, UK where he again served in a dual capacity as staff psychiatrist and primary care physician. In July 2001 he reported aboard Amphibious Squadron EIGHT as CATF Surgeon in command of Fleet Surgical Team FOUR. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, he deployed his team aboard USS Bataan with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and successfully conducted medical operations during the initial thrust against enemy forces in the Afghanistan theater. He deployed again as CATF Surgeon, Amphibious Task Force East aboard USS Kearsarge in January 2003 during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the invasion that followed. In September 2003 he returned to the Psychiatry Department at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth as inpatient director. He has since returned from a ground deployment to Iraq, where he served as psychiatrist and primary care physician in a Marine Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon in Al Anbar province. CAPT Smullen has demonstrated throughout his career that hands-on care of patients is his first priority. Vote Here.