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WASHINGTON (April 21, 2021) – The ���������� Association (AHA) today presented two federal hospital leaders with awards recognizing their outstanding service to the health care field. These awards recognize uniformed and non-uniformed federal health care leaders who have distinguished themselves through significant or innovative achievements and leadership that have contributed substantially to the mission of the federal health systems. The awardees will be honored during AHA’s Federal Roundtable.

“All aspects of the federal health system serve thousands of patients each year and have done so much over the years to save lives, perform miracles and keep people healthy,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “We are honored to recognize General Bartrum and Lieutenant Colonel Richter for their dedicated leadership, demonstrated resiliency and their integral role in fighting the battle against COVID-19 to ensure their patients are cared for.”

Award for Excellence– Brigadier General John J. Bartrum, United States Air Force, Mobilization Assistant to Deputy Surgeon General, Falls Church, Va.  

Brig. Gen. Bartrum was selected to support the COVID-19 pandemic response due to his recognized expertise in medical emergency response supply, acquisition and innovation. Through one of the most difficult chapters in our country’s history, he provided leadership in the design of what became known as Operation Warp Speed—the national push to get vaccines into bodies as fast as possible. Bartrum helped smooth out supply chain issues with masks and other equipment and also improved the effectiveness of the government’s medical response to states, territories and tribal nations.           
 
Special Achievement Award – Lieutenant Colonel Jason Richter, medical support squadron commander and medical group administrator, Aviano Air Base Ambulatory Surgical Center, Aviano, Italy 

Lt. Col. Richter has demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation and teamwork. He and his team pursued creative and lasting solutions to problems previously unsolved. Richter was among the first in the Air Force to create a Chief Experience Officer position and lead efforts to create a telehealth program. Through data-driven analysis he was able to resolve disparate care gaps within the base medical clinic and helped shape the clinic’s continuous process improvement program. At the epicenter of the world’s initial COVID-19 response, Richter guided his teams to a series of benchmark breakthroughs that were adopted at other facilities. His lab was the first Air Force military treatment facility with testing capabilities.

The 2019 honorees will also be spotlighted during AHA’s Federal Roundtable. AHA’s 2019 Federal Health Care Executive Award for Excellence was presented to Colonel Jennifer A. Brooks, M.D., United States Air Force, who championed the design, development and launch of the Operational Medicine Clinic, the Air Force’s first hospital-based active duty-only clinic, designed to maximize an Airman’s readiness to deploy. 

AHA’s 2019 Special Achievement Award was presented to Jennifer Koget, Department of Veterans Affairs, who leads a public-private partnership between the VA and the Fisher House Foundation to provide free temporary accommodations for families of hospitalized veterans and active duty service members.  

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Contact:           Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351 mjohnson@aha.org
                        Thomas Jordan, (202) 626-2264, tjordan@aha.org