Commanding Officer

Capt. Richard B. Lawrence, NC, USN

Commanding Officer

Joint Base, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
Navy Medicine Training Support Command (NMTSC)

A native of San Francisco, California, Captain Lawrence earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from theUniversity of California at Riverside in 1992 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1994 from Loma Linda University. Upon graduation, he worked as a critical care nurse and transitioned to Perioperative nursing in 1995, where he successfully managed a cardiothoracic surgery program at a Level II trauma center.

After attending Officer Indoctrination School at Newport, Rhode Island in 1999, Captain Lawrence reported to Naval Medical Center San Diego as a Perioperative staff nurse where he was the charge nurse for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the Main Operating Room’s training officer. His follow-on tour was U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella, Italy, as a staff Perioperative nurse and the Command’s Infection Control Officer. He was competitively selected to attend the Perioperative Clinical Nurse Specialist program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences from May 2006 to May 2008, where he graduated with honors. He was the Principal Investigator for his graduate level research, which was awarded the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence. His utilization tour was completed at Naval Hospital Yokosuka as the Department Head of the Main Operating Room, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, and Sterile Processing Departments and the Command’s Infection Preventionist. As the Infection Preventionist, he assisted Nippon Telephone and Telegraph hospital prepare for their successful Joint Commission International accreditation.

Captain Lawrence served as the Department Head of the Main Operating Room, Ambulatory Procedure Unit, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Sterile Processing Department, and the Endoscopy clinic at Naval Hospital Bremerton prior to serving as an Individual Augmentee and Operating Room Department Head of the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. While deployed, he was selected as the Perioperative Nurse Training Program Director West, at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, responsible for preparing future Navy perioperative nurses. Starting in June 2015, Captain Lawrence served as the Perioperative Nurse Specialty Leader transforming the specialty’s strategic focus and recruitment and retention efforts. He was then selected as the Senior Nurse Officer for the Directorate for Surgical Services and the acting Associate Director for Nursing at Naval Medical Center San Diego. He then went on to serve as the Assistant Deputy Director for Nurse Corps Policy and Practice at BUMED (N00C3). Captain Lawrence is currently the Executive Officer of Expeditionary Medical Facility 150 Mike.

Captain Lawrence is certified by the Certification Board of Perioperative Nursing and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau. He is the recipient of various campaign and personal awards including the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Navy Commendation Medal (three awards), and the Navy Achievement Medal (two awards).

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
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General Navy Medical Inquiries (to Bureau of Medicine and Surgery): usn.ncr.bumedfchva.mbx.bumed-general-inquiries@health.mil