Col. Jeanne Norwood currently serves as the joint product manager for the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program within the Medical Countermeasures Systems Joint Project Management Office, and much like Schmid, her path to this position includes successful work in product devel- opment and acquisition at USAMMDA.
As a product manager within the Pharma- ceutical Systems Program Management Office, Norwood, then a lieutenant colonel, led critical efforts to develop diagnostics and therapeutics to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis, a skin infection caused by a single-celled parasite that is transmitted by an insect bite. Along with these duties, she served as chair of an integrated product team that was responsible for the development of medi- cal products to protect warfighters from infectious disease threats.
“During my tenure at USAMMDA,” Norwood explained, “I was involved in all phases of the product development process, from supporting early science and technol- ogy efforts, to executing Phase III clinical trials, to getting a critical product cleared by the FDA and transitioning it to the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency for fielding.”
Echoing Schmid, Norwood agreed that the work and training provided at USAMMDA allowed her to grow in the acquisition and advanced development fields. “My experience at USAMMDA helped me to understand and appreciate the importance of functional teams,” said Norwood. “Although some of my learning may have been trial by fire, because I was new to advanced development at that time, USAMMDA leadership empowered me to lead my team to advance critical prod- ucts to the warfighter, and that was really encouraging.”
ADDED RESPONSIBILITIES
The breadth of work at USAMMDA will soon increase as the organization absorbed 27 product development personnel from the U.S. Army Medi- cal Materiel Agency (USAMMA) in July. The transition will add many new medical products to USAMMDA’s portfolio, which Bailey noted will “help to create even more opportunities for product knowledge and acquisition skill development, and build a much stronger USAMMDA workforce.”
With the influx of additional personnel, the need for specialized training will increase as well. Bailey explained that while at USAMMDA, Soldiers may also satisfy their requirements for the Army’s 8X Additional Skill Identifier, which remains on their permanent records to show they have successfully completed additional acquisition skills training for an Army Medical Depart- ment acquisition officer. Further, both USAMMDA and USAMMA offer the Program Management – Acquisitions Internship Program, which is designed to recruit junior officers to the field earlier in their careers to begin develop- ing acquisition skills for future positions within the workforce.
Schmid praised the internship program as an effective way of creating a large pool of well-trained officers who could one day fill critical acquisition gaps throughout the Army. “Gaining experience in acquisition while you’re still a captain will really help you to understand how the USAMRMC does business,” she said. “Also, having experiences like this early in your career as an officer will certainly help to prepare you for leadership roles later on.”
—MR. JEFFREY M. SOARES
She
added that her assignment
at
USAMMDA “provided my first chance to see a product cross the finish line and go into the hands of the people that really need it. Once you’re part of a success such as that, you want to see it happen again.”
CONCLUSION USAMMDA has seen its share of success over the years. From critical vaccines and blood products that help to save lives on and off the battlefield, to medical prod- ucts, devices and treatments that help wounded warfighters returning from battle, USAMMDA’s status as a solid training environment to help prepare future leaders is secure.
“USAMMDA truly is a great organization that helps to build the bench of acquisi- tion leaders,” said Bailey. “People who join our team obtain the education and expe- rience to develop as professionals in the field, and then rotate out to lead in other diverse acquisition environments.”
Schmid and others on the USAMMDA team believe that USAMMDA is one of the most diverse commands under the U.S. Army Medical Command, which supports its status as an effective training environment.
As the USAMRMC is a life cycle manage- ment command, USAMMDA has the
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