Fort Sam Houston, TX - In what some consider a surprising decision, distinguished cardiologist Dr Ward Casscells, a professor of medicine and vice president of biotechnology at the University of Texas School of Medicine, has joined the US Army [1]. Having recently completed basic officer training, Casscells will serve three months a year as a reservist and has already volunteered to go to Iraq, where he says he can help the most.

"I don't want to backfill; I want to go to where I'm most needed," Casscells recently told Elaine Wilson, a reporter for the American Forces Press Service.

In a profile of the Harvard-educated doctor, Wilson notes that the "tireless Casscells is a teacher, doctor, and champion of humanitarian relief, with countless hours spent tending to victims of hurricanes, tsunamis, and terrorist acts." His studies have led to breakthroughs in cardiology, and his years of research on avian flu are now deemed cutting edge, adds Wilson. In 2001, Casscells served on Pres Bush's healthcare advisory committee and recently assisted with disaster relief efforts for the South Asian tsunami and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. From a clinical perspective, Casscells has been at the forefront of research focusing on the connection between influenza and myocardial infarction.

Despite all these accomplishments, it was a cancerous growth in his abdomen in 2001 that precipitated the mid-life career move, with Casscells later joining the Army Reserve as a colonel.

"It was bad," Casscells told Wilson. "I went through five years of chemotherapy and radiation. After I went through that, I wanted to do things I hadn't done before." One thing he hadn't yet done was enlist in the US armed forces. His father was a soldier, however, serving with Gen George Patton in World War II. It was the sight of his father's old army uniform hanging in the closet that put him on the path to joining the reserve, notes Wilson.

Although he heard it all—that he was too old, not physically fit enough, or wouldn't be senior enough to "do anything interesting"—Casscells was cleared medically to enter the Army Reserve, joining in the summer of 2005. Almost immediately, Army Surgeon General Lt Gen Kevin Kiley mobilized the world-renowned cardiologist to his command because of an urgent need for somebody with avian-flu expertise, reports Wilson. During this time, Casscells traveled extensively to Cairo, Beijing, and Bangkok, doing surveillance to determine the possibility of a widespread avian-flu outbreak.

It was back in Texas, however, that Casscells got a taste of the real grind of army training. Last month, Casscells attended the two-week reserve officer basic course at Fort Sam Houston. Although the program is geared toward medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, and pharmacists, attendees are "run ragged with training," often going without sleep and food. Casscells called the course one of the biggest challenges of his life.

"This course is 'shock and awe' for me," he told the Armed Forces Press Service. "I haven't been this tired and intimidated since I was an intern. It's scarier, more intense than I thought."

Not surprisingly, the program is designed to be hard on its attendees. "Many of these officers come from privilege or worked their way through school but still don't know what it's like to do without," said course instructor Capt Darren Teters. "They've never been without a shower for two or three days or had their food limited."

Despite the challenge, Casscells passed the course, graduating February 3, 2006. "We [class members] are all so proud to have gotten through it," he said. "It was dead on."