Frederick M. "Skip" Burkle Jr.

Frederick M. "Skip" Burkle, Jr. (born April 29, 1940) is an American physician known for his work in human rights, international diplomacy and peacemaking, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response. He has been called "the single most talented and experienced post-conflict health specialist working for the United States government."[1] His medical qualifications include pediatrics, emergency medicine, psychiatry, public health, and tropical medicine.

This article is about the physician. For the fictional character by Joss Whedon, see Winifred "Fred" Burkle.
Frederick M. "Skip" Burkle, Jr.
Born (1940-04-29) April 29, 1940
New Haven, CT
NationalityAmerican
Education
Spouse(s)Phyllis Dinnean
Scientific career
Fields

Drafted into the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, he served as a military physician in Vietnam and was instrumental in Operation Babylift.[2]

Burkle reached the rank of Captain (O-6) in the U.S. Naval Reserve before retiring.[3]

Personal life and education

Burkle was born in New Haven, CT, to Frederick and Mary Frances Burkle (née Borel). His father was an engineer with a telephone company, and his mother, one of the first women graduate students at Yale, was a teacher. He is the middle of three siblings: he has an older sister Joan, and a younger brother Richard, now deceased.

As a child, Burkle was dyslexic and unable to read until 5th grade.[4] He developed his own language, which prompted his mother to seek a psychological evaluation for him. The evaluation, done at the time when little was known about learning disabilities and their co-existence with giftedness, revealed an extremely bright but "lazy" child.

Shy and self-conscious, Burkle intensely disliked school, even though he dreamed of becoming a doctor, inspired by seeing magazine pictures of physicians who saved starving children in Africa’s jungle hospitals. He attended Notre Dame High School in West Haven, CT, and while there, he met his future wife, Phyllis Dinnean, who was attending St. Mary’s High School. He credits meeting Phyllis with turning his life around, as she believed in him and encouraged him to go to college. With her support and against his father’s wishes, Burkle decided to apply to Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont:

"She urged me to plead my case to the High School Academic Dean, a stern gray haired Brother of Holy Cross, to both loan me the application fee and forward a decent recommendation. I was shaking in my boots. He silently pondered the circumstances yet nodded his head and agreed to accept the personal risk despite the potential anger of my Father . . ."[4]

Burkle obtained his bachelor's degree from Saint Michael’s College in 1961. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by Saint Michael’s College in 2009. He completed his M.D. at the University of Vermont in 1965. He was in his residency in pediatrics (completed 1968) at the Yale School of Medicine when he was drafted into the U.S. Navy. He subsequently completed a fellowship in adolescent medicine in 1970 at Harvard Medical School and a residency in psychiatry in 1974 at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He obtained an M.P.H. at the University of California at Berkeley in 1975, a Diploma in Emergencies in Large Populations at the University of Geneva in 1989, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.[5]

He has been qualified in Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Pediatric emergency medicine, and Psychiatry, and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics.[3]

Together with his wife Phyllis, who worked as a teacher, the Burkles have raised three children, and currently reside in Hawaii.

Military service and awards

In Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited, author Andrew Wiest described how in 1968 Burkle was drafted into the U.S. Navy, deployed to South Vietnam, and assigned to the 3rd Medical Battalion.[6] He served at Delta Med hospital at Dong Ha, a few miles south of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) treating countless casualties and acquiring skills as a combat surgeon. Attentive to the neutrality of medical personnel, Burkle also treated civilians and enemy combatants and helped manage the bubonic plague epidemic that devastated that area of the country.[7] He served as the medical director of the last Viet Nam Operation Babylift out of the former Saigon in 1975.[8]

A retired Captain (O-6) in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Burkle completed combat tours in the Vietnam War (1968), the Persian Gulf War (1991) and Somalia (1992) with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Marine Divisions, and with the United States Central Command in Somalia, receiving two early promotions.[5]

As a navy reservist, Burkle was recalled to active duty during the Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991, and deployed to Saudi Arabia.[9] He was assigned to al Khanjar Navy-Marine Corps Trauma Center.[10] Just miles from the Kuwait border, this hospital was the largest field medical treatment facility in Marine Corps history. Several days before the ground war began on February 24, 1991, commanding general of the 2nd Force Service Support Group, Brig. Gen. Charles Krulak, selected Capt. Burkle to serve as Senior Medical Officer and Chief of Professional Services of the 2nd Medical Battalion at al Khanjar Navy-Marine Corps Trauma Center. When the fighting ended on February 28, the Trauma Center had treated more than 600 Allied casualties and many more Iraqi wounded.[11][12][13]

In early 2003, Burkle was appointed the interim minister of health of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. In April 2003, when faced with rapidly deteriorating social order and health of the Iraqi population after the collapse of Saddam's government, Burkle declared a public health emergency, a decision that cost him his job.[14][15] He was replaced by James K. Haveman Jr. who, as The Washington Post reports, tried to make Iraq’s health system with a U.S. like two-tier healthcare model of private healthcare providers, co-payments and primary care.[16] History Commons reported that a USAID official said the White House wanted a “loyalist.”[17]

His awards include two Bronze Star Medals (Viet Nam and PGW) one rito with Combat "Valor" (1968 Viet Nam), Combat Action Ribbon, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Citation (2 awards), Vietnamese Merious Medical Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal (2 awards), and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.[18][5]

Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance

In 1994, Burkle worked with then senator of Hawaii Daniel Inouye to develop a Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COEDMHA). At the time the CFE was located at Tripler Army Medical Center and Burkle was its first and founding director.[19] The center has since been renamed to the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) and was moved to Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of the center was to serve as a resource for bringing science and innovation to enhance humanitarian assistance and disaster relief by improving humanitarian civil-military coordination.[20]

Burkle's vision was to have the CFE serve as a civilian-led research and training institute that would enhance the capacity of the U.S. and foreign militaries to operate effectively in humanitarian assistance missions. The main tasks of the CFE were to increase militaries' understanding of the humanitarian ethos and the guiding principles of humanitarian organizations, along with promoting an understanding of the international humanitarian architecture and the key humanitarian organizations involved in humanitarian response. Dr. Burkle hired a highly experienced staff drawn from academia, the United Nations, the medical field, and the U.S. military to fulfill this vision.[20]

He also established partnerships with a wide range of UN organizations, international non-governmental organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the University of Hawaii. Burkle and the staff he hired led numerous research projects and training courses including the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.) course, a training course for managing relief operations in humanitarian crises, as well as the Health Assistance Response Training Course (HART).[21][22][23][24]

The center was named a WHO Collaborating Center for Civil-Military Engagement, and was the only center so designated. After Burkle left the CFE in 2000, the WHO removed its designation.[25]

Additional international work

In the late 1970s and early 80s, Burkle traveled to China to assist in treating and lecturing on malnutrition and poverty that plagued 83% of the population.[26] Burkle partnered with his long-term friend and colleague Professor Zong-Hao, Li, former director at Beijing Emergency Medical Center, currently president of the China Emergency Resuscitation Association, to teach and advance emergency medicine as a specialty in China.[27][28] During the 1990s he assisted in the development of the emergency medical services in hospitals in and around Beijing and on the Hainan Island.[29][30]

In 1992, Burkle worked with International Services of the American Red Cross in the Kurdish Crisis in Iraq.[31][32]

He was deputy assistant administrator, Bureau of Global Health at the Bureau of Global Health at United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Department of State (2001–2003).[33]

Burkle is a faculty member at European Master in Disaster Medicine, an International Master of Science organization by the University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy and the Free University of Brussels. Here Burkle helps as advisor in their research center CRIMEDIM as well as guides their research in humanitarian aid.[34]

In 2002, Burkle received a White House Appointment to serve as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Global Health at United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Department of State. In this capacity, he was appointed the first Interim Minister of Health in Iraq in 2003 during the planning and immediate crisis period.[5]

In January 2017, WADEM (World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine) named its biennial Award for Global Leadership in Emergency Public Health in honor of Dr. Burkle, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the science and practice of humanitarian relief efforts. The Burkle Award's first two recipients were Drs. Ian Norton of the WHO Emergency Medical Teams Initiative, and Joanne Liu of Médecins Sans Frontières.[35]

Academic career

Narcissism in U.S. Polity

In December 2015, Burkle published a seminal paper on “Antisocial Personality Disorder and Pathological Narcissism in Prolonged Conflicts and Wars of the 21st Century” warning against political leaders with narcissistic and antisocial character disorders as a major source of humanity’s problems.[38] This was the most read article on ResearchGate in 2016. He followed it up with a Harvard International Review paper, co-authored with Dan Hanfling, MD, and published in March, 2016, on “When being smart is not enough: Narcissism in U.S. Polity” where he discusses the widespread collective narcissism in America as a main enabling factor and portent of a toxic presidency.[39]

Awards and honors

Publications

Professor Burkle is noted among "the most recognized leaders in the fields of Disaster Medicine, Public Health Preparedness, Emergency Management, and Environmental Health."[53] He has published over 240 scientific practice and policy articles, multiple abstracts, 70 book chapters and four books, three on disaster management including Disaster Medicine: Applications for the Immediate Management and Triage of Civilian and Military Disaster Victims in 1984.[54]

  • Lifeline – Frederick "Skip" M Burkle, Jr., Lancet. Volume 364, No. 9433, p495, 7 August 2004. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16793-7
  • Globalization and Disasters: Issues of Public Health, State Capacity and Political Action, Journal of International Affairs. Vol. 59, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2006.[55]
  • Population-based Triage Management in Response to Surge-capacity Requirements during a Large-scale Bioevent Disaster, Academic Emergency Medicine. December 2006; 13(11). DOI:10.1197/j.aem.2006.06.040[56]
  • Conversations in Disaster Medicine and Public Health: The Profession], Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Volume 8, Issue 1. February 2014, pp. 5–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2014.11
  • Yasuhiro Otomo and Frederick M. Burkle. Breakout Session 1 Summary: Frameworks and Policies Relating to Medical Preparedness and Health Management in Disasters, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Volume 8, Issue 4. August 2014, pp. 359–360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2014.72
  • The World Health Organization Global Health Emergency Workforce: What Role Will the United States Play?, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Volume 10, Issue 4, August 2016, pp. 531–535. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2016.114
  • Koenig and Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices: Complex Public Health Emergencies, Cambridge University Press, 18 April 2016, pp. 433–449.[31][57][53]

References
  1. Mistakes Were Made, The Washington Post, September 17, 2006
  2. Operation Babylift, Ford Library Museum. Retrieved 2017-01-15
  3. Burkle '61 to speak at service-themed commencement, Saint Michael's College. Retrieved 2017-03-20
  4. Tribute to Dr. Frederick Burkle, Congressional Record, (Senate - June 07, 2016). Retrieved 2017-01-15
  5. Frederick “Skip” Burkle, Wilson Center. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  6. Andrew Wiest (20 May 2013). Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-1-78200-325-0.
  7. Dr. Skip Burkle, Veterans Advantage, May 10, 2001
  8. American Pediatricians at War: A Legacy of Service, Pediatrics, February 2012, VOLUME 129 / ISSUE Supplement 1
  9. 2012 Leiter Lecture “Future Humanitarian Crises: Challenges to Practice, Policy and Public Health” NLM in Focus, National Library of Medicine, May 4, 2012
  10. Galarneau MR, Hancock WC, Konoske P, Melcer T, Vickers RR, Walker GJ, Zouris JM (2006). "The Navy-Marine Corps Combat Trauma Registry". Mil Med. 171 (8): 691–7. doi:10.7205/milmed.171.8.691. PMID 16933807.
  11. Emergency medicine in the Persian Gulf War - Part 1: Preparations for triage and combat casualty care, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 4,1994
  12. Emergency Medicine in the Persian Gulf War--Part 2. Triage Methodology and Lessons Learned , Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 4, 1994
  13. Emergency Medicine in the Persian Gulf War--Part 3: Battlefield Casualties , Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 4, 1994
  14. Health and politics in the 2003 war with Iraq: lessons learned, The Lancet, October 9, 2004
  15. Bush promised Iraqi civilians a better future. What are their lives like now?, MSNBC, Oct 17, 2013
  16. Appoint the Best to Iraq, Not the Best-Connected, The Washington Post, July 6, 2003
  17. Replacing the Expert with the 'Loyalist', History Commons. Retrieved 2017-01-15
  18. Bronze Star citation, 14 July 1991.
  19. 10 U.S. Code § 182 - Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School. Retrieved 2017-01-13
  20. The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DMHA), RAND Corporation. Retrieved 2017-01-13
  21. CFE-DM Training Programs, Center For Excellence in Disaster Management. Retrieved 2017-1-13
  22. Humanitarian Assistance Response Training, Naval Education And Training Security Assistance Field Activity. Retrieved 2017-1-13
  23. Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.), Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Retrieved 2017-1-18
  24. Humanitarian Assistance Response Training (H.A.R.T.), Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Retrieved 2017-01-18
  25. WHO Collaborating Centre for Civil-Military Cooperation, World Health Organization. Retrieved 2017-03-21
  26. The Contradictions That Define China, NewSecurityBeat blog, Environmental Change and Security Program, Wilson Center, May 27, 2010
  27. China Daily, National section, Thursday October 11, 1990
  28. The Chief Expert Zonghao Talk About First Aid Chinese Edition by Li Zong Hao Zhu, www.yihuadichan.net. Retrieved 2017-03-29
  29. Emergency Medical Services Systems in the United States and China: A Developmental Comparison, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Vol. 9, No. 4, October - December 1994
  30. Emergency Medical Services System in Hong Kong: A Pearl in the South China Sea, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Vol. 12. No, 2, April - June 1997
  31. Kristi L. Koenig; Carl H. Schultz (18 April 2016). Koenig and Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices. Cambridge University Press. pp. 438–. ISBN 978-1-107-04075-5.
  32. Paul A. Gaist (4 December 2009). Igniting the Power of Community: The Role of CBOs and NGOs in Global Public Health. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-0-387-98157-4.
  33. Kevin M. Cahill (2003). Emergency Relief Operations. Fordham Univ Press. pp. 369–. ISBN 978-0-8232-2240-7.
  34. EMDM Faculty and Scientific Committee, Dismedmasters.org. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  35. World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine Frederick "Skip" Burkle Jr. Award , WADEM.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25
  36. , Monash University. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  37. James Cook University - Public Health and Tropical Medicine Staff, James Cook University. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  38. Burkle FM Jr (2016). "Antisocial Personality Disorder and Pathological Narcissism in Prolonged Conflicts and Wars of the 21st Century". Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 10 (1): 118–28. doi:10.1017/dmp.2015.113. PMID 26456397.
  39. “When being smart is not enough: Narcissism in U.S. Polity”, Harvard International Review, March 2016
  40. "Colonel Donald Cook Award", Saint Michael’s College. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  41. “Alumni Knight of Honor All Time List” Archived 2016-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, Notre Dame High School – West Haven. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  42. “Humanitarian Award Recipients”, International Federation for Emergency Medicine. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  43. “UH physician recognized for medical and community service”, University of Hawaii, August 5, 2005
  44. Medical Alumnus “Burkle Elected to Institute of Medicine”, University of Vermont, August 12, 2007
  45. “Six JHU Researchers Elected To Institute Of Medicine”, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, October 8, 2007
  46. Medical School's Burkle Selected by Institute of Medicine, University of Hawaii, October 24, 2007
  47. “Burkle '61 to speak at service-themed Commencement”, Saint Michael’s College. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  48. “Dr. Frederick M. "Skip" Burkle, Jr. to Give 2012 Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lecture, May 9”, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  49. 2012 Joseph Leiter Lecture - Future Humanitarian Crises: Challenges to Practice, Policy & Public Health, Center for Information Technology, National Institute of Health, May 9, 2012
  50. “Congratulations, 2014 ACEP Award Recipients”, American College of Emergency Physicians. October 24, 2014
  51. Humanitarian heroes vitalize 2016 Commencement, Saint Michael’s College. Retrieved 2017-01-02
  52. Podcast Episode 4: Professionalization in the Humanitarian Sector, Humanitarianu.com. Retrieved 2017-03-02
  53. New Textbook Announced and Reviewed: Disaster Medicine - Comprehensive Principles and Practices. 2nd Edition. Kristi L. Koenig & Carl H. Schultz. 2016 - Cambridge University Press, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Volume 32, Issue 1, February 2017, pp. 112-113
  54. Frederick M. Burkle, ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-02-01
  55. Globalization and Disasters: Issues of Public Health, State Capacity and Political Action, Journal of International Affairs, Columbia. Retrieved 2017-02-01
  56. Burkle Frederick M (2006). "Population-based Triage Management in Response to Surge-capacity Requirements during a Large-scale Bioevent Disaster". Academic Emergency Medicine. 13 (11): 1118–1129. doi:10.1197/j.aem.2006.06.040. PMID 17015415.
  57. Koenig and Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices, Cambridge University Press, 18 April 2016, pp. 433-449

Bibliography
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