LRMC Doctor Receives Templeton Lecture Award

By LRMC Public AffairsJuly 28, 2014

LRMC Doctor Receives Templeton Lecture Award
Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., presents the Drs. John M., Jr. and Josephine J. Templeton Lecture Award to Major (Dr.) Christian Labra who's experience as an injured artillery officer in Iraq led him to become an Army doctor who is now serving at Landstu... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany -- Major (Dr.) Christian Labra has received the Drs. John M., Jr. and Josephine J. Templeton Lecture Award at the American Trauma Society, PA Division's (ATSPA) Annual Conference Awards Banquet in Mechanicsburg, PA.

This award was presented to Labra for his great work in the military and medical fields, and for inspiring others through his story of trauma.

Labra, a U.S. Military Academy graduate, deployed to Iraq just a few months after the initial invasion. During a night patrol outside Baghdad in late 2003, he was injured. While investigating a possible source of mortar attacks, a cinder block wall collapsed, breaking both Labra's legs and his pelvis.

Labra was introduced to battlefield medicine and Wounded Warrior care as he was whisked from Baghdad to Kuwait, and later to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.

That was just the beginning of Labra's exposure to military medicine. The former artillery officer was so inspired by the medical professionals' skills and compassion that he decided to enter the medical field and help others.

Ten years after being wounded in Iraq, Labra completed medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and graduated from a residency at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. Now he is a board-certified family physician at LRMC.

The John Templeton Foundation is a philanthropic organization that funds inter-disciplinary research about human purpose and ultimate reality. It was established in 1987 by investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton; the current president is his son John Templeton, Jr. (Courtesy American Trauma Society Public Affairs)