Brigadier General Loree K. Sutton, M.D. Director, who is the highest ranking psychiatrist in the U.S. Army, has served as director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) since November 2007. She also serves as special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

Sutton has more than 20 years of leadership experience encompassing a diverse mix of domains: civilian and military; combat and peacekeeping; command and staff; clinical and academic; and policy and education.

Before becoming the founding director of DCoE, Sutton was commander of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas. Her earlier positions include: command surgeon for the U.S. Army Forces Command; commander of the DeWitt Army Community Hospital/Health Care Network; deputy commander for clinical services, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital; division surgeon, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized); and special assistant to the Army surgeon general.

Sutton also served as: a White House fellow and special assistant to the director of the Office of the National Drug Control Program; assistant professor of psychiatry and a disaster medicine consultant at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; chief of inpatient psychiatry at the William Beaumont Medical Center; and division psychiatrist for the 1st Armored Division.

The DCoE director has served in three locations abroad: Germany; in Iraq in the first Gulf War; and with the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai, Egypt.

Sutton completed her internship and residency training in psychiatry at Letterman Army Medical Center, located at the Presidio in San Francisco. She holds a medical degree from Loma Linda University and a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Pacific Union College. Board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sutton is licensed to practice medicine in California.

In addition, Sutton is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and a distinguished graduate of the National War College. She has received numerous awards during her career, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Order of Military Medical Merit.

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