CGHE, About

DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT

Elizabeth a. erickson, Colonel, usaf, MC 

Col (Dr.) Elizabeth Erickson is the Director of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' (USU) Center for Global Health Engagement (CGHE). In this capacity, she leads a multidisciplinary team providing thought leadership and operational support for the Department of Defense's Global Health Engagement (GHE) Enterprise. Her responsibilities include oversight of training and education programs, delivering operational support to the combatant commands, advancing research and scholarship, and knowledge management. Additionally, she serves as an Assistant Professor in the USU Department of Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics. 

Col Erickson received her commission through the Health Professionals Scholarship Program in 1999. She attended the University of Minnesota Medical School and Family Medicine residency training at David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, California, serving as Chief Resident 2005-2006. As a Family Physician, she had overseas assignments in Turkey and Germany, and served as Senior Medical Officer and Chief of Women's Affairs on Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, Afghanistan in 2009-2010. She achieved the International Health Specialist Special Experience Identifier in 2011 and has planned, coordinated, and executed Global Health Engagement programs and activities at the Pacific Air Forces Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and U.S. European Command. She also completed residency training in General Preventative Medicine, earning a Master of Public Health degree with a Global Health concentration in 2018. Prior to her current position, Col Erickson served as the Chief of the Global Health Engagement Branch and the International Health Specialist Program at the Air Force Medical Agency, and was deployed in 2024 as the Security Assistance Group - Ukraine (SAG-U) Surgeon as well as the first Medical Advisor to NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).