Place earns promotion

HURON – Huron native and Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place has been named the next director of the Defense Health Agency.
His promotion to lieutenant general, thus becoming a three-star general, came during a separate ceremony the same day earlier this month in Washington, D.C. Looking on were his parents, Bob and Carol Place of Huron, and his wife, also named Carol.
Place succeeds Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, who is retiring after 36 years of service. She was the director of DHA since 2015.
In remarks at the change of responsibility ceremony, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Tom McCaffery said he has confidence in Place, saying he’s “no stranger to the changes underway” in transforming military medicine.
Place led the Military Health System’s National Defense Authorization Act 2017 Program Management Office, which oversaw the review of some of the most sweeping organizational changes in military medicine in decades.
In the past two years, Place has served in DHA leadership roles. He led the National Capital Region Medical Directorate and later the transitional Intermediate Management Organization that oversaw the transition of the first set of military hospitals and clinics to the DHA.

Earlier in 2019, he became DHA’s interim assistant director for health care administration, a key position that will eventually have oversight over all military hospitals and clinics.
In Place, the DHA team can expect a leader of intelligence, integrity, dedication and character, McCaffery said.
Place said that leadership doesn’t take place in a vacuum, echoing Bono’s statement that change is a team effort. Teams need effective leaders such as Place, her successor, she said.
Place said he is confident DHA and MHS will continue an effective transformation with a focus on readiness and patient-centered outcomes while emphasizing the need to continue to embrace change.
Military forces must be fit to fight and ready to win, he said. “Coming in second in what we do doesn’t count,” Place said.
Place is board-certified in general as well as colorectal surgery. He’s the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His combat surgical experience includes deployments with forward surgical teams to Afghanistan and Kosovo.
His numerous awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, and combat action, combat medic and flight surgeon badges.
In 2011, recognizing the successes in battlefield medicine achieved during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the deputy secretary of defense established a task force responsible for developing transformative changes in how the Military Health System was governed and organized.
Among the recommendations was the establishment of the Defense Health Agency. It was formally established on Oct. 1, 2013.
The agency is a strategic enabler in support of the Army, Navy and Air Force medical services.