Conference Faculty

Joyce M. Johnson, DO, MA

Vice President, Health Sciences
Health and Life Sciences Division, Battelle
Arlington, Virginia

Joyce M. Johnson, DO, MA is Vice President, Health Sciences in the Health and Life Sciences Division of Battelle Memorial Institute in Arlington, Virginia. She joined Battelle in December 2003 upon her retirement from the U.S. Public Health Service (rear admiral, upper half). She had been assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, and functioned as the Coast Guard’s surgeon general. Her other government assignments included senior scientific and management positions with the Food and Drug Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She has held clinical positions at the National Institute of Mental Health (St. Elizabeths Hospital) and with the Veterans Administration. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she was an Epidemiologic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer and staff epidemiologist in the Center for Infectious Disease and one of the first epidemiologists to study AIDS.

Dr. Johnson has extensive international health experience, and has provided consultation or clinical care on all seven continents. She has particular medical interests in emergency preparedness, third world health care, and health systems development. During the summer, 2006, she served as Project Hope’s chief medical officer aboard the USNS Mercy, for humanitarian assistance in Indonesia and Timor Leste. At various times, she has been a medical volunteer with DoCare to Haiti, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. She is a consultant to the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs, focusing on the Antarctic.

Dr. Johnson is a physician board certified in three specialties – Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology and Psychiatry. She is a Certified Addiction Specialist and Certified Food Service Executive. In addition to her medical degree, she earned a master’s degree in Hospital and Health Administration. She was conferred honorary Doctor of Public Service, Doctor of Science and Doctor of Fine Arts degrees.

Dr. Johnson writes the regular Ask the Doctor column for the Military Officer Magazine and recently completed editing the book, The Ship’s Medical Chest and Medical Aid at Sea. She serves on the Explorer’s Club Expedition Medicine Advisory Council and the TriWest HealthCare Alliance Executive Advisory Board, and is a member of the Cosmos Club. She has served on the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Board of Trustees. She is on the Georgetown University School of Medicine adjunct faculty and is active in many professional associations.

Dr. Johnson is married to Jim Calderwood, an attorney in private practice. They have one son, James, a high school student. They reside in Chevy Chase, Maryland.