 Gerald W. Parker, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Colonel, Veterinary Corps
Commander
Colonel Gerald W. Parker is Commander of the U.S.
Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick,
Maryland. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Colonel Parker holds a D.V.M. degree from Texas
A&M University and a Ph.D. in physiology from Baylor College of Medicine. Prior to assuming command of USAMRIID in March 1998, Colonel Parker
served as the Research Area Director for the Medical Chemical and Biological Defense
Research Program at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC). His
other assignments have included Deputy Director of the Combat Casualty Care Program,
USAMRMC, and special staff intern in the Office of the Assistant Surgeon General for
Research and Development at the Pentagon.
Colonel Parker has served at USAMRIID in a variety of assignments throughout his 20-year
Army career. He first came to the Institute in 1982 as an associate investigator. During a
second tour starting in 1988, he served as a principal investigator, chief of the
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and chief of the Toxinology Division. He
returned in 1995 for a third tour, where he served as the Deputy Commander.
Colonel Parker's military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf
clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Overseas Ribbon.
He is a recipient of the Surgeon General's "A" Proficiency Designator in
Physiology.
|
| The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases (USAMRIID) conducts research to develop strategies, products, information,
procedures, and training programs for medical defense against biological warfare threats
and naturally occurring infectious diseases that require special containment. USAMRIID, an
organization of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), is the lead
medical research laboratory for the U.S. Biological Defense Research Program. The
Institute plays a key role in national defense and in infectious disease research as the
largest biocontainment laboratory in the Department of Defense (DOD) for the study of
hazardous diseases. |
|
 The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases is
located at Ft. Detrick, in the foothills of western Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.
Frederick, the community that surrounds Fort Detrick, has proudly preserved its German
immigrant heritage along with many landmarks of the American Revolution and the Civil War.
The valley, immortalized by poet John Greenleaf Whittier when he wrote of "the
clustered spires of Frederick,... green-walled by the hills of Maryland," is still
quiet and semirural. Residents can choose lifestyles combining countryside tranquility
with the culture and educational opportunities of nearby Washington and Baltimore.
Click on the map for a larger version.
|
