81 Medical Group welcomes new commander

Published March 31, 2014
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The "Dragon Medics" welcomed their new leader March 28 as Col. (Dr.) Thomas Harrell assumed command of the 81st Medical Group from Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Kory Cornum during a change of command ceremony conducted in Keesler Medical Center's Don Wylie Auditorium. Brig. Gen. Patrick Higby, 81st Training Wing commander, was presiding officer.

Harrell comes to Keesler Air Force Base from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, where he commanded the Department of Defense/Veterans Affairs Joint Venture Hospital and also served as the Alaskan Command command surgeon. Cornum has been reassigned to Scott AFB, Ill., as Air Mobility Command command surgeon.
In addition to commanding the medical group and Keesler Medical Center, the colonel also serves as the senior market manager for TRICARE's Gulf Coast Multi-Service Market, which includes five military medical facilities stretching from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans and he is a co-lead for the Biloxi DoD/VA joint venture centers of excellence initiative.

As commander, Harrell is responsible for the direct delivery of health care at Keesler Medical Center and its clinics while coordinating the health care for all Joint Service warfighters, military retirees and their family members along the Gulf Coast. He ensures that all Keesler medics are ready for both combat missions and humanitarian medical responses. He directs five graduate medical education programs, eight enlisted training programs and a clinical research laboratory. He leads almost 1,700 health-care professionals and manages a local budget of almost $90 million. In addition, Colonel Harrell is the federal coordinator for the Gulf Coast National Disaster Medical System.

The colonel received an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Pre-Health Profession Scholarship, graduating from the University of South Florida in 1988 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was conferred a doctor of medicine degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine in 1992 and completed residency training in internal medicine at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Medical Center in 1995 followed by a sponsored fellowship in cardiology and electrophysiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, completing his training in 1998.

Harrell reported for active duty at Nellis AFB, Nev., in 1998 as the chief of the Cardiopulmonary Department at Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital, later becoming the chief of medical services. At Brooks City-Base, Texas, he served as the USAF Aeromedical Consult Service cardiologist and subsequently as the first chief of the Medical Flight Screening Branch. He served an operational tour as the chief of aeromedical services for the 435th MDG, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, prior to assuming inaugural command of the surgical operations squadron at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England.

Leaving England, Harrell became the deputy director of Air Force Medical Services at the Air Force Medical Operations Agency, Lackland-Kelly AFB, Texas. He completed a master of science degree in strategic study with academic distinction as class president of the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Ala., before his assignment to Alaska.
The colonel is a senior flight surgeon with experience in a variety of aircraft required to execute both the United States Air Force's combat and humanitarian missions.

81 MDG welcomes new commander