State Surgeon of Kansas presents on modern epidemics

Dr. Lee A. Norman, the State Surgeon of Kansas, presented a lecture entitled “Modern Epidemics: Why they occur and why we should worry!” on Monday, April 23 in the Arnold Conference Room in the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth.

Dr. Norman spoke about public health issues the world is currently facing, such as the cholera epidemic in Yemen, as well as concerns for potential epidemics and pandemics, including diseases and viruses resistant to antibiotics and other medications. Norman focused primarily on public health concerns that are not the result of bioterrorism – diseases spread through livestock and animals, increased global travel, and the failure to properly immunize against preventable diseases, such as measles – but did review bio threats like CRISPR Cas9.

“We have to make sure we look at infectious disease patterns globally and treat and get after them at their source. Because we are in this together… We’re sharing food. We’re sharing vectors of disease…” said Norman.

Dr. Norman also spoke about the effect of global climate change on the spread of disease, citing long-frozen plant diseases that have been released due to melting glaciers and are no decimating crops that are not immune to the viruses. Mosquito-born illnesses are also a growing problem due to changing climates.

Later that afternoon, Dr. Norman lead a professional development session on the challenges of modern epidemics in the main conference room at Munson Army Heath Center on Fort Leavenworth. The session was co-sponsored by Munson Army Health Center and the Simons Center, and was attended by Munson staff. At the close of Dr. Norman’s presentation, Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen Flocke, MD, Deputy Commander of Munson Army Health Center, presented Norman with a coin to thank him for contributing to the professional development of the staff at Munson.

Coin presentation

Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen Flocke, MD, presents Dr. Lee Norman with a coin.

Dr. Lee A. Norman serves as the State Surgeon of Kansas where he guides medical troop sustainment and training, health services support, force health protection, biosecurity, and he serves as an advisor and liaison to emergency management and Homeland Security elements. Dr. Norman received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, did his residency in family medicine, and his aerospace medicine training in the U.S. Air Force at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio. Dr. Norman has served as a chief medical officer for more than 20 years, most recently in the University of Kansas Health System, and before that in the Swedish Health System in Seattle. Dr. Norman also has two master’s degrees – one in health planning and systems analysis from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and an executive MBA degree from the University of Washington Graduate School of Business.

This lecture is part of the CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation “Distinguished Speaker Series.” The lecture series is an extracurricular, educational lecture series that is intended to help enrich the CGSS curriculum much like the Interagency Brown-Bag Lecture Series, but with a broader focus. Topics covered in the lectures span the gamut of leadership and ethics, organizational effectiveness, collaboration, as well as current events and issues in business, government and the military. The presentations are scheduled as the availability of selected speakers permits. The CGSC Foundation and the Simons Center have received support for all distinguished speakers in academic year 2018 from Park University along with previous contributions from the Perot Foundation.

All lectures in the Simons Center Distinguished Speaker Series are free and open to the public. Many of the lectures in this series are largely conducted in the traditional “brown-bag lunch” format. – Attendees are welcome to bring their own lunches into the conference room. Members of the public coming to the lectures from off-post will need to add extra time to check-in at the Fort Leavenworth visitor center. – For gate information, see the Fort Leavenworth homepage.


Dr. Lee A. Norman, the State Surgeon of Kansas, presents a lecture entitled “Modern Epidemics:
Why they occur and why we should worry!” on Apr. 23 at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

For photos and video from the lecture, please follow the links below.
Simons Center Distinguished Speaker Series AY18-1, Youtube
Modern Epidemics, Simons Center Distinguished Speaker Series, Facebook
SCDDS-Modern Epidemics (23APR18), Flickr

Dr. Lee Norman presents “Modern Epidemics: Why they occur and why we should worry!” at the College on April 23.

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