The Oklahoma Eagle

Colonel Norvell V. Coots, MD. native Tulsan became the commander of the Walter Reed Healthcare System, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, DC. Son of former late Tulsa Dr. William and Theresa Coots, Colonel Coots was born in Tulsa, Okla., and raised in Virginia and Washington, DC.

Most recently he served as the commander of the Keller Army Community Hospital, West Point, New York, and as the 52nd Surgeon of the United States Military Academy. The Walter Reed Healthcare system serves more than 150,000 beneficiaries in the nation’s capital, and consists of the Walter Reed Army Hospital, the DeWitt Army Hospital at Ft Belvoir, Virginia, the Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center at Ft Meade, Maryland, and the DiLorenzo TRICARE Health Clinic at the Pentagon. Additionally, the system has primary care clinics, which support several installations in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

He began his military career in the Medical Service Corps as a 67K, Medical Logistician. Colonel Coots is a graduate of the Benedictine High School Military Institute in Richmond. He attended the United States Military Academy, and Howard University, where he pledged Beta Chapter in 1978. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Okla. He performed Transitional Internship at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Tex., and, after a two-year tour as a general medical officer in Korea, completed a dermatology residency at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Tex.

His previous assignments include: Commander, Andrew Rader Army Health Clinic, Ft. Myer, Virginia; Medical Staff Officer, Directorate of Health Policy and Services at the Office of the Surgeon General; Deputy Commander for Clinical Services, USA MEDDAC, Heidelberg, Germany; Deputy V Corps Surgeon, Heidelberg, Germany; Chief, Dermatology Service, 67th Combat Support Hospital and USA MEDDAC, Wuerzburg, Germany; Commander, 150th Medical Detachment (OB), Camp Carroll, Republic of Korea; Platoon Commander, 245th Medical Company (CLR), 45th Infantry Division, OKARNG; Commander, 249th Medical Detachment (BB), 85th Medical Battalion, Fort Meade, MD; Commander, 212th Medical Detachment (OB), JTF-Alpha, Republic of Honduras; Services Officer, 702nd Medical Company (CLR), 85th Medical Battalion, Fort Meade, MD; Services Officer, Expandable Platoon Leader, and Adjutant, 10th Combat Support Hospital (10th MASH), 85th Medical Battalion, Fort Meade, MD.

Colonel Coots is a Diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. He holds an active membership in the American College of Physician Executives, the National Medical Association, and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Association of Military Dermatologists, and the Washington D.C. Dermatological Society. He is a graduate of the Army War College with a master’s degree in Strategic Studies, and is an alumnus of the Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives. His awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (4 OLC), the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (1OLC), the Korean Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism medal, and the Order of Military Medical Merit. He has been awarded the Surgeon General’s “A” Proficiency designator in Dermatology.

Colonel Coots is a Knight of the Order of the White Greyhound; a benevolent order of Chivalry based in France and has been inducted into the Bessarabian Order as recognition for his benevolent service projects with the orphans of the Republic of Moldova. The Pearl S. Buck Society has also recognized him for his work in the development of a healthcare program for the Amerasian orphans of Korea. He is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities, and is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology’s Leadership Circle on Volunteerism. He is married to the former Claudia Gomez of Pamplona, Colombia, and has a son, Maximilian and a daughter, Catalina.