SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SPOTLIGHT: MAJ SCOTT WILLENS
A change in global affairs leads to a change in careers
MAJ SCOTT WILLENS COMMAND/ORGANIZATION:
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense
POSITION AND OFFICIAL TITLE: Deputy medical director
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 13 AWARDS:
Meritorious Service Medal, Army Com- mendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in comparative biomedical sci- ences (pharmacology) with a minor in zoology from North Carolina State Uni- versity College of Veterinary Medicine; diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine; D.V.M. from University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine; B.S. in animal science with high honors from Rutgers College of Environmental and Biologi- cal Sciences
O
n the night of Sept. 10, 2001, veterinarian Scott Willens stayed up late studying for his preliminary exams. At
the time, he was working toward a Ph.D., focused on skin absorption of pesticides in amphibians, at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medi- cine. Te next day, 9/11, “I kind of woke up late and all of the major events had already happened. I was watching it in rerun,” he said.
“I’d had my senior prom at the top of the World Trade Center in 1988—I’m from that area.” His immediate concern was for friends and family who worked in and around the World Trade Center. “I hadn’t heard from some but, thankfully, every- one I knew had made it out.” As a result of the 9/11 attacks, Willens decided to join the Army and serve his country.
Willens had looked into joining the Navy right out of vet school because he thought it would be interesting to work with marine mammals, but at the time he didn’t realize that it was actually Army veterinarians who worked with the Navy marine mammals. He talked to recruit- ers, who tested him. “Tey thought I’d be ideally suited to be a Navy SEAL based on my scores, and I said, ‘I want to work with seals, not be a SEAL.’ And so I went
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into private practice for a couple of years, followed by an internship at Mystic [CT] Aquarium and then graduate school.” Until 9/11, his career was moving toward working with zoo animals, but 9/11 changed everything.
Willens was 30 years old, and joining the military at that age wasn’t something he’d contemplated, but he joined and went to officer basic training, then fin- ished up his doctorate. Until recently, he worked on countermeasures to chemical and biological warfare agents, except for a deployment to Iraq in 2007 and various details to work on congressionally man- dated health programs and other research, which has run the gamut of medical con- cerns facing military families.
Willens specializes, in part, in veterinary preventive medicine, which, he said, deals with “infectious and parasitic diseases, epidemiology and biostatistics, public health administration and education, food safety and environmental health.” It relates to what he described as the
“greater One Health concept of interre- lated humans, animals (domestic and wildlife)
and environmental health
with globalization in all arenas, as we’re seeing with Ebola spreading,” he said, adding, “It’s a very holistic approach in the macro sense to medicine, as
Army AL&T Magazine
January–March 2015
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