Army Reserve Doctor, General, Shares Knowledge with Medical Students

PINELLAS PARK, FLA., December 17, 2009 - Maj. Gen. Robert J. Kasulke, Commanding General of the Army Reserve Medical Command (AR-MEDCOM), lectured first year medical students at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, on Friday, December 4 at their Manhattan campus.

He lectured the students on the responsibilities doctors in the military have, both in combat and non-combat situations. He also discussed at great lengths the wounds that occur in war, how the wounds are made and how to treat those wounds.

Kasulke highlighted how IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) damage tissue, how bullets of varying sizes and types affect tissue and what different types of damage to look for when repairing the wounds.

Additionally, he discussed the levels of trauma, procedures to repair and heal the wounds and the processes in which military patients are treated and evacuated to higher echelons of care.

After the lecture Kasulke joined the students in their Gross Anatomy lab where he assisted them in their lab assignments. Afterward he fielded questions both medical and Army centric.

Kasulke was directly commissioned in the Army Medical Corps in 1980 while completing a Fellowship in Vascular Surgery, following his graduation from medical school. He assumed command of the AR-MECOM, headquartered in Pinellas Park, Fla., in September. He has command over 10,000 medical and medical support Soldiers throughout the U.S.

AR-MEDCOMs mission is threefold; To consolidate and centrally manage Army Reserve medical units and Soldiers; enhance readiness, medical support and medical training, and streamline mobilization timelines; and finally, seamlessly synchronize and align Army Reserve medical units with the U.S. Army Medical Command and the Office of the Surgeon General.

As a civilian doctor Kasulke specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of patients who suffer from venous disease. He is also board certified in both general and vascular surgery, and is the Medical Director of the Hospice of Jefferson County, N.Y.