CAPT Eric Andrew Elster, MD, FACS, FRCSEng (Hon.)

Dr. Eric Elster is a the Dean of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the Norman M. Rich Professor of Surgery at USU. Dr. Elster is retired Captain in the US Navy. He is responsible for the undergraduate medical education of more than 680 uniformed medical students and more than 340 military and civilian graduate students each year. Dr. Elster’s distinguished career is anchored in academic medicine and translational research. He earned his undergraduate and medical school degrees from the University of South Florida in Tampa as a recipient of the U.S. Navy’s Health Professions Scholarship Program. Dr. Elster completed a general surgery residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he served as ship’s surgeon aboard the USS Kitty Hawk while stationed in the Persian Gulf. Following deployment, Dr. Elster completed a solid organ transplantation fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and was later stationed at the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., where he directed a translational research program focused on the development of improved diagnostics and therapies for serious traumatic injuries, transplantation and advanced operative imaging. He was last deployed as a surgeon and director of Surgical Services at the NATO Role 3 Military Medical Unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Prior to his selection as Dean, Dr. Elster served as the third Chair of the USU Department of Surgery and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Elster also serves as the director of the Surgical Critical Care Initiative (SC2i), a joint military and civilian program that develops clinical decision support tools for critically ill patients. Dr. Elster is a member of including the ACS, ASA, SSA, Halsted Society, and a Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in the United Kingdom.

Abdomen and Digestion Disorder/Procedure

Liver, Gallbladder, Pancreas Disor/Proc

Hernia Procedures

Minimal Access Surgery

Transplantation

• kidney transplant
• stem cell regeneration

Trauma/Injury Procedures

• abdominal injuries
• wound debridement

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Bethesda, MD,

Trauma/Acute Care Surgeon

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert

Bethesda, MD

Professor

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert

Bethesda, MD

Chairman

09/2012—Present