Army Doctor

Alumnus James K. Gilman Takes Command of Walter Reed Hospital

Learning about an organization is a big part of any new executive job, but James K. Gilman took his new-employee orientation to an unexpected level this summer as commander of the prestigious Walter Reed Hospital.  Just two months into the assignment, Gilman received a patient’s-eye view of his new command when he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy performed by the staff he oversees. 

Operating on the boss could cause anxiety in some hospitals, but such pressure performances are a regular part of life at Walter Reed Hospital, located in Washington, D.C.  “The guys who operated on me operate every day on people whose names you would recognize in the paper,” said Gilman, a 1974 biology graduate.  “If you had difficulties working under that kind of pressure, Walter Reed would not be the right kind of place for you.”

Walter Reed became the right kind of place for Gilman, a colonel in the U.S. Army, when he received the assignment earlier this year from the surgeon general.  He took command of the facility on June 21.

Technically, Gilman’s assignment is commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System, which includes Walter Reed Hospital, an Army hospital in Fort Belvoir, Va., the clinic at the Pentagon and the clinic at Ft. Meade.  Almost 90 percent of his job deals with Walter Reed Hospital where he serves as the “chief operations officer.”

In describing his new assignment, Gilman said “This is about as good as it can get for an Army doctor.  Walter Reed has always had a reputation as a first-class health care facility.  It is the one place in the Army you can be assigned and nobody has to ask you where it is.” 

Part of its reputation is based in its 95-year history that has included service to military and political giants such as President Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.

Walter Reed Hospital is the Department of Defense’s biggest hospital, with 5,000 employees (half military, half civilian), 220 beds and an extensive outpatient program.

“At Walter Reed, we’re about three things,” Gilman explained.  “They are:

• “The readiness mission of fixing American’s heroes;
• “Quality health care that includes a huge training mission for physicians and nurses; and
• “Customer service – making people feel cared for.”

With the current fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, a major focus of the hospital is treating battle casualties from those areas.  “That’s the biggest part of what we do,” Gilman said.  “On any given day, we’ll have between 50 and 60 Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom battle casualties among our 220 inpatients.

“The job doesn’t stop when they leave the hospital.  We have about 600-650 casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan physically located around Walter Reed.  We are responsible for their continuing care and rehabilitation.”

A typical day for Gilman includes receiving information from his staff, dealing with human resources issues, strategic planning and a “VIP tour or two.”  He sets the expectations and standards, and holds the right people accountable for reaching those standards.

Because of its high profile, Walter Reed Hospital draws plenty of attention and visitors.  “On any given week, we’ll have visits from a few senators, a few members of Congress, and two or three of the highest ranking military officers in the land, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and senior civilian leadership of the Department of Defense,” Gilman reported.

“High visibility creates a great deal of turbulence in the organization, but it also creates tremendous opportunities,” Gilman stated.  “While we have to organize several visits by dignitaries, it is very gratifying to see the impact those visits have on the soldiers, sailors and marines.”

In dealing with a variety of constituencies, Gilman stresses the importance of being able to synthesize data and being able to communicate.  He also believes he needs to insulate the people in his organization from the outside influences.  “They can know about it, but you can’t let it change the way they’re going into the operating room to take care of an injured soldier,” Gilman said.  “I need to collect most of the outside influences on my back so our people can do their jobs.”

Prior to joining Walter Reed, Gilman served as director, Health Policy and Services Directorate, Office of the Surgeon General.  Prior to that Washington, D.C., assignment, he was commander, USAMEDDAC, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Other assignments have included serving as deputy commander for clinical services at Fort Hood, Texas, and chief of cardiology service at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Gilman earned his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine.  He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology, and he is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

As he looks back on his career stops, Gilman said “they were not among my goals when I graduated from Rose-Hulman.  I would have been pretty happy to just be a doctor, serve out my military obligation and go into private practice.

“The longer things went, I kind of felt I was an army doctor first and a cardiologist and electrophysiologist second.  I enjoyed the opportunity to lead and the opportunity to take care of literally thousands and thousands of patients.  I became more interested in being responsible for whether people got up and went to work in the hospital and that they were happy to be there.  Probably about 1995, I reached a decision that getting out of the army and going into private practice probably wasn’t what I was going to do.  That’s when we started moving pretty frequently going from one hospital to the next.  We moved  about four times in seven years.”

The term “army doctor” holds special meaning for Gilman.  “An army doctor,” he said, “implies somebody who is flexible and adaptable who can apply his or her craft in the middle of a modern medical center like Walter Reed, but could do the same thing in a tent in the desert. Army doctors truly love the young men and women they serve.

“We’re about taking care of soldiers and their families.  We’re also about reassuring the American people their sons and daughters who go into harm’s way are going to be taken care of.  That’s why after 26 years and all these moves, I’m still doing this.”