Executive Officer

Executive Officer, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Portsmouth

Captain Lafreniere is a native of Poland Springs, Maine and earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 2001. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana on a Health Professions Scholarship from the U.S. Navy, earning his medical degree in 2007. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in 2010, followed by a one-year utilization tour as the training program’s Chief of Residents.

In 2013 he completed a General Internal Medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, where he developed an expertise in medical education and curriculum development. Following his fellowship, he brought this skillset back to the training program at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, where he served as the Associate Program Director 2013-2017 and Program Director 2017-2021.

In 2020, he deployed as the Internal Medicine, Critical Care and COVID-19 subject matter expert aboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) during Carrier Strike Group Five’s freedom of navigation operations in the Seventh fleet area of operations.

He served as Naval Medical Forces Atlantic’s Senior Medical Officer 2021-2022, prior to volunteering for a ‘hot-fill’ as Officer-In-Charge of Fleet Surgical Team Two. Dual-hatted as the Group Surgeon for Expeditionary Strike Group Two, he mentored Officers in Charge from Fleet Surgical Teams Four, Six, and Eight, and coordinated with their corresponding Commodores to affect necessary personnel shifts between FSTs to ensure ‘best-fits’ for three deploying ARG/MEU teams (BATARG 2023, WSPARG 2024, IWOARG 2025).

He reported to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) in July 2024 as the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Director of Clinical Operations, Policy and Standards (N10). As BUMED’s CMO he was the principal clinical advisor to the Navy Surgeon General, directly shaping Navy Medicine’s strategic direction. As Director of BUMED’s largest N-code, he and his team of eight O-6 direct reports and 104 senior officer, enlisted, and civilian staff drove policy updates impacting the Navy and Marine Corps across medical standards, qualifications and waivers, clinical training & education, and credentialing, privileging & quality management in operational medicine. He also served as Privileging Authority for Navy Reserve Medicine, overseeing credentialing and privileging for 1190 providers.

As of April 2026, he serves as the Deputy Commander of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Portsmouth and the Deputy Director of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.
His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (three awards) and various unit and campaign awards.

Captain Justin P. Lafreniere
Medical Corps,
United States Navy