CAPT Kevin L. Russell,
Director of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center
CAPT Kevin Russell graduated from University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Medical School in 1990; after a Family Practice internship he was accepted into the Navy Undersea Medicine program. He was stationed in Panama City, Florida, at the Experimental Diving Unit where he worked in diving medicine research from 1991 to 1995.
After a Preventive Medicine Residency with a Masters in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, he was transferred to Lima, Peru where he became head of the virology laboratory. His portfolio included febrile illness (largely arboviral in origin) and HIV surveillance studies in 8 different countries of South America, as well as prospective dengue transmission studies.
In 2001, he moved back to the states and became the Head of the respiratory disease laboratory at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California. Febrile respiratory illness surveillance in recruits of all services was expanded into shipboard populations, Mexican border populations, support for outbreaks, and deployed settings. Validation and integration of new and emerging advanced diagnostic capabilities, utilizing the archives of specimens maintained at the laboratory, became a priority. Projects expanded in 2006 to clinical trials support as CAPT Russell became the Principal Investigator for the Navy site in the FDA Phase 3 adenovirus vaccines trial, and more recently to support the Phase 4 post-marketing trial of the recently FDA approved ACAM2000 Smallpox vaccine.
In July of 2008, CAPT Russell assumed the responsibilities of Director, Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS), and Deputy Director, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. He was tasked with the responsibility of melding the GEIS network into the attributes of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC). Standardization, greater affiliations with world militaries, and continuing to introduce scientific rigor into the network were priorities.
In June of 2011, CAPT Russell became the Director of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. He is excited by the challenge of further leveraging the many assets of the AFHSC for the health of our men and women in uniform, as well as global Public Health. CAPT Russell has over 80 peer-reviewed publications of his work and is a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America. Personal awards include the Navy Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Navy Commendation Medal.