Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency, presented Frank K. Butler, Jr., M.D. with the 2017 Distinguished Service Award, in the category of Combat Casualty Care, today at the Military Health System (MHS) Research Symposium. The Distinguished Service Award is a lifetime achievement award recognizing an individual who contributed significantly to the success of MHS research and who demonstrates outstanding leadership.

According to his nomination, “Butler's name is synonymous with prehospital trauma care.” He facilitated, promoted, and applied the results of MHS research in his roles as a founder of Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) and director of the Prehospital Care Branch at the Joint Trauma System. His years of dedication and expertise led to multiple casualty care breakthroughs for military application that crossed into the civilian trauma care world. Butler's contributions to trauma care are immeasurable with world-wide acceptance and implementation.

Butler retired as a Captain from the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and is now a staff ophthalmologist for the Naval Hospital, Pensacola. He currently chairs the Committee on TCCC and serves as a medical consultant for the Navy Medical Lessons Learned Center.

Throughout his military career, Butler held many positions beginning with the Platoon Commander for SEAL Team One and the Underwater Demolition Team Twelve, culminating to the command surgeon for the U.S Special Operations Command. To learn more about his exciting career, please view his official biography.