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In preparation for applying to medical school, Stacy worked as a nursing assistant while earning a Master of Science degree in anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then, it was on to Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk is home to the largest naval base in the world, and many of Stacy’s fellow medical students and friends were in the Navy. She became interested in the Navy and joined the service during her second year of medical school through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Upon receiving her Doctor of Medicine
While in Atlanta, she sought out focused training in rural surgery and trauma care, knowing that her job as a military surgeon would require the ability to work in austere situations with few resources and critically injured patients. She then returned to Virginia as the General Surgeon and assistant officer- in-charge with Fleet Surgical Team 2 at Naval Station Norfolk. From there she was deployed on the USS Wasp in support of the 2020 Black Widow anti-submarine exercise, and on the USS Arlington in 2021 for Joint Task Force HAITI humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. In fact, she spent her final few weeks of pre-deployment leave flying across the country for fellowship interviews. She plans to start the fellowship in 2023, since she will miss the next class due to a lengthy deployment. As of the date of this writing, April 2022, Stacy is aboard the USS Kearsarge LHD-3, an amphibious assault ship, on a six-month, or longer, deployment. The USS Kearsarge has over 2,000 personnel on board including the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, the ship’s company, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, Fleet Surgical
in 2008, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. After completion of her internal medicine residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, Stacy was stationed at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Shortly after reporting there, she learned that she had been selected to be a Physician to Congress in the Office of Attending Physician at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Her duties involved giving medical care to members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and Supreme Court Justices.
In her role as a senior officer in the Navy, Stacy describes her proudest accomplishment as the mentorship she provides to junior sailors and fellow women in the military to assist them in the pursuit of their goals.
In 2021, Stacy was part of the first- ever collaboration between the Army Strategic Trauma Readiness Center and Navy Fleet Surgical Teams, completing a rigorous three-week course in San Antonio, Texas, at Brooke Army Medical Center. The objective was to push these Navy Fleet Surgical Teams to their limits, so they can handle any challenge they may encounter on the ships. In her role as a senior officer in the Navy, Stacy describes her proudest accomplishment as the mentorship she provides to junior sailors and fellow women in the military to assist them in the pursuit of their goals. She continually strives to demonstrate the passion and enthusiasm she has for her career, her naval service and her patients by always pursuing excellence and life- long learning. Stacy’s next career goal is to complete a fellowship in Trauma
Team 2, Amphibious Squadron 6, Tactical Air Control Squadron 22,
Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Assault Craft Unit 2, Assault Craft Unit 4, Naval Beach Group 2 and Beach Master Unit 2. Their destination is undisclosed. Commander Stacy Coulthard is a second-generation P.E.O., initiated into her mother’s chapter, AB, Radford, Virginia, in 2011. With her parents, Teresa and Jim, we, her P.E.O. sisters, wish her and her team Godspeed and a safe and successful deployment.
An added benefit to serving as a Physician to Congress was the opportunity to travel abroad with congressional delegations. Stacy’s assignments took her to Beijing and The Great Wall of China, South Korea on the DMZ, India, Germany, Peru, Chile, Turkey and the memorial service for South African leader Nelson Mandela. She also attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the 2012 Republican National Convention, President Obama’s second inauguration, congressional conference retreats and numerous congressional concerts and functions. While assigned to Congress, Stacy was promoted to Lieutenant Commander, selected as a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and awarded the Navy Commendation Medal. After completing her assignment at the U.S. Capitol, Stacy changed medical specialties and did a five-year surgical residency at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she trained under national leaders in surgery at Emory University Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the busiest trauma centers in the United States.
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July–August 2022 | THE P.E.O. RECORD
WWW.PEOINTERNATIONAL.ORG
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