Lieutenant General (ret.) Nadja West is the 44th Army surgeon general and the former commanding general of U.S. Army Medical Command. In 2015. Nadja became the first African American woman three-star general in the Army’s history and is currently the highest-ranking woman to ever graduate from West Point. A graduate of George Washington School of Medicine, she completed residencies in family medicine and dermatology and has held various clinical, operational and leadership positions throughout her 30+ year career as a soldier.
In her last Army assignment, West managed an $11 billion budget and led an organization consisting of more than 130,000 healthcare professionals comprised of active, guard and reserve soldiers, civilians, contractors and volunteers. She was responsible for medical centers, community hospitals and clinics; dental, veterinary and public health facilities; research, education and training platforms, and deployed medical formations around the globe, supporting more than 4 million people. In her role as surgeon general, Nadja was the senior medical advisor to the secretary and chief of staff of the Army. During her tenure, she led the AMEDD through the most comprehensive transformation that military medicine has seen in more than three decades. Nadja is a 2019-2020 Hauser Leader at Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership, serves on the boards of directors for Americares, Nucor Corp. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. She is also a trustee of the National Recreation Foundation, dedicated to enhancing the role of recreation as a positive force in improving the quality of life of youth.