As a physician in the U.S. Army, you’ll be given the opportunity to work with elite medical professional teams throughout the world. With over 40 areas of concentration, Army doctors have a very high first-choice match rate for their chosen specialties. 

Whether you choose a full-time, active-duty commitment or serve in the U.S. Army Reserve or National Guard while maintaining your civilian practice, you’ll enter as a commissioned officer. This is a leadership position that offers the chance to lead at an earlier point in your career than you might expect in the civilian world.

Core Mission

As a physician in the Army, you are part of an organization with global reach and a reputation for operating at the forefront of medical care and discovery. There are more than 5,000 active-duty and Reserve physicians serving in the Army today.

Army physicians focus their practice in three key areas: operational medicine, clinical medicine and research medicine.

Career Highlights

The Army offers practice opportunities in more than 40 specialty and subspecialty areas for physicians. As part of an integrated healthcare team, you’ll provide quality patient care to Soldiers and their families. These specialties include, but are not limited to:

  • Anesthesiology
  • Cardiology
  • Dermatology 
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Field Surgery 
  • Flight Surgery 
  • General Surgery 
  • Infectious Diseases 
  • Internal Medicine 
  • Medical Oncology/Hematology 
  • Neurosurgery 
  • Nuclear Medicine
  • Obstetrics/Gynecology
  • Orthopedics
  • Pediatrics

When you enter the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer, you become part of the largest and most esteemed healthcare organization in the world. To provide the highest level of quality patient care, the Army gives you every opportunity to perfect your specialty. The Army helps you to stay abreast of the newest developments, techniques and latest trends through continuing education courses, seminars and conferences that will help you expand your knowledge and further your career.

Locations

Army physicians work in some of the most advanced medical facilities as part of one of the largest healthcare networks in the world. The Army also has the largest graduate medical education program of all the Service branches. 

Locations for Army Graduate Medical Education continue to evolve to meet the needs of the nation and currently occur in 11 military health training facilities and three research institutes. The locations below provide some additional information on a select few examples of the Army’s global healthcare presence.

  • The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center

    This center is the sole facility caring for combat burn casualties, beneficiaries and civilian emergencies. Notably, the center’s Army Burn Flight Team is capable of providing worldwide assessment, treatment, and transport of military personnel who have sustained thermal and nonthermal trauma.

  • Landstuhl Regional Medical Center – Kaiserslautern, Germany

    This hospital is a primary evacuation point for service members who need further treatment before coming home to the United States, or who are returning to their units in theater.

  • Tripler Army Medical Center – Honolulu, Hawaii

    This is the largest Army treatment facility in the Pacific Basin and happens to be the only United Nations-designated Peace Operations Training Institute in the United States.

View All Army Military Medical Facilities

Unique Programs + Opportunities

Part of the allure of practicing medicine in the Army is the range and scope of your potential medical missions and training. Below is just a sample of the programs, training opportunities, and field operational research experiences you can expect to encounter during your career.

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  • SOUTHCOM Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP)

    Located in Doral, Florida, SOUTHCOM HAP is responsible for missions in support of partner nations related to human suffering, disease, and natural disaster. This can include rapid response missions in the wake of a disaster, or, more often, helping partner nations prepare in advance should these disasters occur.

  • U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa (USAMRD-A)

    USAMRD-A is based in Nairobi, Kenya, with clinical research centers and field sites across sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside local institutions, USAMRD-A addresses infectious disease threats and carries out disease surveillance, training, research, and outbreak response.

    Explore Army Physician Careers