Nelson Rosen, MD, promoted to brigadier general
Nelson Rosen, MD, associate director of the Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s, recently celebrated his promotion to brigadier general and will assume responsibilities as a deputy commanding general of the 3d Medical Command based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rosen has been a member of the US Army Reserve for 25 years, commissioning after he received his medical degree from Temple University in 1994. Starting as a captain, he steadily rose through the ranks, serving as a general surgeon in a combat support hospital in New York and two tours in Iraq. One of his assignments there was to lead a Forward Surgical Team, which is designed to do damage-control surgery on patients in the field who are so critically injured they would not survive transport to a bigger hospital.
As he was fulfilling his command duties, Rosen was diligent about completing his military education requirements, all the while working his civilian job as a pediatric colorectal surgeon.
“My military education was very important, especially in combat situations where I would talk to soldiers of different backgrounds, branches and services,” he said. “It helped me understand what they did so I could speak their language.”
In 2011, as a lieutenant colonel, Rosen was accepted into Army War College. He spent two years and many late nights working on his Masters of Strategic Studies. He was then selected for promotion to colonel and to serve as brigade commander.
In 2014, he went overseas as the senior medical commander for all US Army medical forces in southwest Asia—the Central Command area of operations that includes Iraq and Afghanistan. When he returned home in 2015, he was asked to lead the 338th Medical Brigade and served in that role for three years.
“After you’ve been a colonel for a year, you’re eligible to be considered for a general officer position,” said Rosen. “You have to opt-in and submit all your paperwork, which the board goes over with a fine-toothed comb. The selection process is kept tightly under wraps.”
Discipline brings rewards
Rosen had just taken on the interim command of the 8th Medical Brigade in June 2018. Although he’d hoped to hear something from the board regarding his application for general officer, he had resigned himself to the fact it wasn’t going to happen this year.
But last September, Gen. Charles Luckey, Chief of the Army Reserve, called to tell him he’d been picked to be one of his division's three deputy commanding generals. “You’re going to do great things,” Luckey told him.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen for this role, and I’ll do my best to make good use of the office that has been put at my disposal,” said Rosen. “Serving in the Army is a choice. You want to do good things for the formation, to make sure America has the finest fighting force. And specifically, my job is to make sure the finest fighting force on earth has the finest healthcare delivery system and comprehensive health support.”
Rosen officially received his promotion in April. He had a change of command ceremony in New York, attended by family and friends who’d supported him through the years. Then on July 31, he celebrated with his Cincinnati Children’s family with a ceremony on the 14th floor of the Clinical Sciences Building (Location T). It was a joint celebration with Vic Garcia, MD, founding director of the Trauma Center, who was also honored as a distinguished alumnus of West Point.
At this ceremony, Colonel Rosen was promoted by Brig. Gen. Beth Salisbury, one of the division's current deputy commanding generals and fellow Ohioan. His new rank was pinned on by Maj. Gen. (Retired) Ronald Dziedzicki, who was the previous commanding general and is currently the Chief Operating Officer for University Hospital of Cleveland. Also in attendance was the Division Command Sergeant Major, Donald Langworthy, himself a Cincinnati native and Proctor and Gamble executive.
"It was a great honor to have all these people here with me to celebrate this honor, as we've all served together for years. Sharing this moment with them made it all the more special," said Rosen.
Rosen is especially grateful to his wife, Jeanne, and his two children, who are thrilled to have him home. “They’ve been with me through three overseas deployments,” he acknowledged. “I missed a lot of birthdays and a few anniversaries. It’s been a toll on them.”
He hopes he will inspire others to take the path he’s chosen and join the Army Reserve. “You may not agree with every conflict our country has been involved in, but if you can possibly imagine that you’d agree with any conflict ever where our freedoms might be under attack in some form, then now is the time to make sure we have an optimal healthcare delivery system for our armed forces—not when that conflict pops up,” he said. “This is a mission I feel pretty strongly about, and I urge others who are like-minded to consider making the Army Reserve a part of your life. You’ll find it can be extraordinarily fulfilling.”
