Sears Award Nominees 2011

After reading the biographies, rank the nominees from 1 to 3, and email your vote. Please make sure your ballot ranks the nominees by number.

CAPT JOSEPH SARACHENE, MC, USN

A native of Ohio, Captain Sarachene was a recipient of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Sciences from Akron University and his Medical Degree from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He completed post-graduate training in General Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland and entered naval service as a staff psychiatrist at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland in 1990 where he was an attending psychiatrist on the inpatient unit. From 1991 to 1995 he was Department Head of the Mental Health and Alcohol Rehabilitation Services at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. In 1995 he transferred to U.S Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan, where he was Head of the Mental Health Department and Behavioral Health Services. While there he also served as facilitator to the command’s Executive Steering Committee and the ECOMS physician advisor for performance improvement. In 2000, CAPT Sarachene transferred to U.S Naval Hospital Naples, Italy where he was appointed head of the Behavioral Health Services Department and responsible for both the outpatient and inpatient behavioral health and command social work services. His collateral duties included being the command physician advisor for performance improvement and the facilitator for the hospital's Executive Steering Committee, guiding the development of the command's Strategic Plan for 2002. He was also assigned as the chairman of the command's Data Quality Management Team. From July 2002 to June 2003, he was a student at the Naval War College in Newport, RI where he received a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. From July 2003 to June 2006 he served at the Director of Healthcare Business Operations at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth. There he was responsible for planning and coordinating of healthcare services for over 260,000 eligible TRICARE beneficiaries and for the monitoring of the performance of the Tidewater Multi-service Market Military Healthcare System which included McDonald Ambulatory Healthcare Center, Ft. Eustis, 1st Medical Group, Langley Air Force Base, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia and the regional managed care contractor. In 2006 CAPT Sarachene returned to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton California as Executive Officer then in 2008 he again returned to U.S. Naval Hospital Naples, Italy as Commanding Officer. After completing his tour in Naples in 2010, he was transferred to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington D.C., where he sits as the Director of Plans, Programs and Monitoring and also the Acting Program Manager for Navy Medicine’s Medical Home Port prior to his current duty as the OIC for the Navy’s Mobile Care Team currently deployed to Afghanistan. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a member of the both the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards) and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

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CAPT ROBERT ALONSO, MC, USN

CAPT Robert Alonso holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree cum laude from the University of Louisville, a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He completed his Family Practice Internship at Naval Hospital Charleston, then reported as Battalion Surgeon, 5th Bn, 11th Marine Artillery Regiment at 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. He was ordered to Naval Hospital Portsmouth for his psychiatry residency, graduating in 1993. As a senior resident, he received the Admiral B. W. Hogan Award recognizing his study on inpatient ADHD prevalence. From 1993 to 1996 he served first as Inpatient Director, then Department Head of the Psychiatry Department of U. S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, leading the Navy’s largest OCONUS psychiatry department. In 1996 he reported as Division Psychiatrist and Assistant Division Surgeon for the 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton. In addition to managing daily healthcare operations of the Division, he initiated base-community cooperative agreements for CISD responses. He became Group Surgeon for 1st Force Service Support Group in August 1999. In 2000 he deployed with 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade to Kenya and Tanzania as the Combined-Joint Task Force Surgeon for Exercises Natural Fires/Native Fury. In 2002 after graduating from the War College, he reported as Command Surgeon with Joint Task Force-Civil Support (JTF-CS). JTF-CS is the Department of Defense’s (DOD) sole deployable headquarters command dedicated to providing command and control of all DOD resources deployed in support of civil authorities for CBRNE events. During this tour he became a Plank Owner of Northern Command, participating in the development of the mission scope, concept of operations, and manning requirements for the NORTHCOM Surgeon’s Directorate. In 2005 he was selected to lead Navy Psychiatry's largest clinical and training operation as Department Chairman at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Concurrently at Portsmouth, he was appointed Department Head for Contingency Planning, developing hospital contingency plans and functioning as the hospital’s emergency manager. JCAHO surveyors cited the NMCP Emergency Plan as a “best practice.” In 2006 he reported to FIRST Naval Construction Division as Force Surgeon, responsible for the manning, training, and execution of healthcare support and medical readiness of 16,800 Seabees deployed world-wide. He traveled to Camp Moreell, Kuwait six times to execute the Seabee’s Warrior Transition Program for regiments and battalions redeploying from the Iraqi and Afghanistan theaters. CAPT Alonso assumed duties as Executive Officer, Expeditionary Medical Facility Kuwait in January 2010 leading two detachments of 225 staff members in day-to-day healthcare operations, guiding and mentoring two Boards of Directors, and driving the CONOPS development for EMFK’s transition to the Army in 2011. Upon redeployment in January 2011, he was assigned to US Fleet Forces Command, N1 Personnel Directorate as Senior Medical Officer for the Individual Augmentee (IA) Sailor Support Program, advising the N1 Director on IA Operational Stress Control issues and process improvements. He will assume his duties as the Deputy Medical Officer of the Marine Corps in June 2011. He is a charter member of the Society of Uniformed Services Psychiatrists, the APA Military District Branch representing DoD and Public Health Service psychiatrists and their issues before the APA Councils and Assembly. He has served two terms as Secretary, two terms as Membership Committee Chairman, and most recently as the Deputy Representative to Area 5 for the APA Assembly. CAPT Alonso’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3), and the Global War on Terror Service and Expeditionary Medals.

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CAPT KEVIN D. MOORE, MC, USN

Captain Kevin D. Moore graduated magna cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 1983 with concurrent Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine from University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1987 and completed Categorical Internship and Psychiatry Residency at National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in 1991. During his residency, he served as Chief Resident and was appointed a Clinical Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD. As Division Psychiatrist and Assistant Division Surgeon for Third Marine Division from 1991 to 1994, he was based in Okinawa, Japan, and deployed throughout Asia on various battle staffs, exercises, and humanitarian operations. He was appointed Joint Forces Brig Psychiatrist as well as Substance Abuse Counseling Center Psychiatrist and Semper Fit 2000 Coordinator for the Division. Becoming the first Navy fellow to complete the Military Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship in 1995, he returned to NNMC as that Command’s first billeted forensic psychiatrist and was the first Navy psychiatrist to be triple boarded by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General, Forensic and Addiction Psychiatry. He was the youngest member ever appointed to the Navy Parole and Clemency Board, served as the PGY III Training Director for the Psychiatry Residency Program and as Team Leader for the Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team (SPRINT). He provided psychiatric services to Quantico, VA, served as a member of the Credentials Committee, and lectured to a wide range of audiences on topics that included forensic and operational psychiatry. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, and served on the faculty of the National Capital Area Consortium and Military Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship. While Director for Managed Care, Director for Healthcare Systems, Medical Director and Director for Specialty Care at Naval Hospital, Charleston, SC, from 1998 until 2001, he was the command’s solo psychiatrist and the psychiatrist for the Consolidated Brig, Charleston, SC. He was also selected as a subject matter expert, developer, and lecturer for the Bureau of Medicine’s premier Clinic Management Course. In 2001 as Division Surgeon, First Marine Division, he was responsible for all medical operations in support of the Ground Combat Element during the initial phases of the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom; he deployed to Iraq in 2003 and was instrumental in his role as senior medical representative for the Reportable Incident Assessment Team and as the Senior Medical Officer for the Civil-Military Operations Center in Baghdad, where he liaised with military commanders, Iraqi and military physicians, non-governmental organizations, and the Iraqi ministry of health to reconstitute medical care following the end of combat operations. After redeploying, he served as Medical Director, Director for Clinical Services and Director for Healthcare Operations at Naval Health Clinic, HI. Also a staff psychiatrist, he consulted with the Hawaiian state government on suicide prevention prior to being selected as Executive Officer, U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam, in 2005. Captain Moore was selected as an Individual Augmentee to be the Commanding Officer of U.S. Expeditionary Medical Facility, Kuwait, (EMF-K) and Joint Medical Task Force, Kuwait, (MTF-K), from 2007 to 2008. As Commander, MTF-K, he led a team of Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel, consisting of eight subordinate commands and over 1,000 personnel in providing all healthcare services and support for the Kuwait, Qatar, and southern Iraq theaters of operations in support of the Joint and Coalition Forces Land Component Commander. Concurrently, he was responsible to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, for provision of medical support and assistance to U.S. and Coalition ships in the North Arabian Gulf. He was also responsible for tactical command and control of all medical logistics operations in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. He orchestrated EMF-K’s move from four year old tents into the hardened facility at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, upgrading the only level III hospital south of Iraq while overseeing ten associated clinics throughout the region. As Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan, from July 2008 to July 2010, he was concurrently appointed Force Medical Officer for Commander, Naval Forces, Japan. Directly responsible for a staff of 1,000 officers, enlisted, civilian, and host nation employees, his command spanned three countries, consisting of a core facility, four branch clinics and three health annexes, and provided medical, operational and contingency support for 55,000 eligible beneficiaries while deploying in direct support of overseas contingency operations and humanitarian assistance missions around the world. Captain Moore’s medical support enabled the arrival of the first forward deployed nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) to Yokosuka, which forever changed the bi-lateral relationship between the United States and Japan. He also successfully led the medical response to the region’s first pandemic flu during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak. He reported to Behavioral Health, U.S. Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Quantico, VA, in August 2010. He was the facilitator for the first Mental Health Summit held at Headquarters, Marine Corps, in October 2010. He is currently assigned as the solo psychiatrist at Naval Health Clinic, Quantico, VA, and Joint Pre-trial Confinement Facility, Quantico, VA. He is also the first psychiatrist to be appointed a member of the Navy and Marine Corps Family Advocacy Fatality Review Board. Captain Moore proudly served as Specialty Leader for Psychiatry to Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from 2001 to 2004, weathering the impact of Presidential Budgetary Decision 712 and preparing the community for support of combat operations. He was hand selected by the Navy Inspector General to serve on a Secretary of Defense Special Task Force on Interrogations in 2004, which reviewed behavioral health involvement in interrogations at GTMO and throughout CENTCOM. He has also served as a consultant for numerous agencies and activities, including: Antarctica Winter-Over Debriefing, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy. In addition to board-certification in General, Forensic, and Addiction Psychiatry, he has completed the American Psychiatric Association’s Certification in Psychiatric Administration and Management. He is enrolled in the Helms Medical Institute Medical Acupuncture Course. A founding member of the American Psychiatric Association Society of Uniformed Service Psychiatrists (SUSP), he served as Secretary and later Ethics Chair for three terms. He is President-elect of SUSP. CAPT Moore’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (seven awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and Combat Action Ribbon.

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