Here's news about a prominent Houstonian who's decided to give something back.
Belatedly continuing a tradition led by Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley and "Red" Duke, prominent Houston cardiologist Dr. Ward Casscells joined the U.S. Army Reserves on Monday.Posted by Alan at June 7, 2005 11:53 AMIn a ceremony at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, Casscells was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps. Mayor Bill White administered the oath of office.
Casscells, who'll be assigned to the surgeon general at the Pentagon, has not received his orders yet but said he thinks he'll start this summer. For the next eight years, he is subject to 90-day call-ups every two years, in addition to serving a weekend a month.
It isn't yet clear whether Casscells will spend any time in Iraq. The Army has expressed interest in tapping his expertise in disaster preparedness and prevention, and Casscells said he definitely expects to travel to South Asia because of his interest in the pandemic flu.
Casscells said he could only aspire to follow in the footsteps of other Houston doctors who served in the military. Noting they "put it on the line" during their youth, he called them "my heroes."
They included heart surgeon DeBakey, who served in World War II and conceived the mobile army surgical hospital, or MASH unit; heart surgeon Cooley, who was chief of surgical services at the military hospital in Linz, Austria, immediately after the war; Duke, who served with one of the first NATO troops in Europe before becoming a trauma surgeon; and Texas Heart Institute surgeon Bud Frazier, who was an Army flight surgeon in Vietnam.
Casscells sought to join up eight months ago, but it took that long for the Army to grant him waivers based on his age and medical condition (he has prostate cancer).