S. Ward Casscells

A world-renowned scientist and cardiologist, the Honorable S. Ward Casscells is one of the most published physicians in the nation and holds over two dozen patents ranging from medical devices to state-of-the-art health surveillance technologies. Dr. Casscells has also helped found four major corporations, including Life Alert and Volcano Medical Device Company, and currently runs his own think tank on healthcare in Washington, DC. His humanitarian work has led him to be a first responder in nearly every major natural disaster for the last two decades. Aside from being the first American physician in Indonesia after the 2004 earthquake, Dr. Casscells was awarded the "Hero of the Flood" medal for his work during Hurricane Katrina and currently is working with several NGOs to help rebuild the Haitian healthcare system. Dr. Casscells' passion for service led him to join the military at the age of 52, going on to serve as the liaison between the coalition forces and Iraqi health ministry in 2006. What followed was perhaps his most impressive professional feat.

In 2007, Dr. Casscells was asked by President Bush to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), with the immediate goal of dealing with the issues surrounding the recent problems at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Dr. Casscells continued his service for almost a year with the Obama administration and at the end of Dr. Casscells' term he was credited with turning around the struggling Military Health System (MHS), a $45 billion health and education system with 137,000 employees, ten million patients in 900 clinics, and hospitals in 100 countries. Now considered the absolute best in prevention, trauma, safety, ethics, satisfaction, PTSD research and care, and disaster response, Dr. Casscells' work with the MHS received the Department of Defense's highest civilian award – the distinguished Public Service Medal – and the Surgeon General's Medallion from the Department of Health and Human Services.

A strong proponent of patient empowerment, Dr. Casscells was an early supporter of electronic health records, public access defibrillation, and telemedicine. He has also made scientific and social contributions to the use of decision analysis in clinical practice, web technologies for public health surveillance, ethics of physician involvement in capital punishment, and federal health reimbursement.

He has also served on numerous civic, corporate, and professional boards and has been elected to a number of honorary societies. A leading authority on a wide range of medical issues, Dr. Casscells has published articles on the prevention of heart attack and stroke, Bayesian decision-making, medical ethics, influenza and emergency preparedness, nanotechnology, and healthcare management. Most notable among his academic achievements was proving the theory that the flu vaccine helps prevent heart attacks.

Currently a Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health, Vice President for External Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Senior Scholar at the Texas Heart Institute, Dr. Casscells is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Medical School magna cum laude. He trained in medicine and cardiology at Beth Israel, Brigham and Women's, and Massachusetts General Hospitals, along with the Harvard School of Public Health, the National Institutes of Health, and Scripps. A colonel in the Army Reserve, Dr Casscells served in Iraq in 2006, earning the Joint Commendation Medal and honorary membership in the Iraqi Medical Regiment.

His recent book, When It Mattered Most, is a tribute to medics killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and was termed "a noble work" by Newsweek.