Commander's Biography
Colonel Russell Coleman, Ph.D.
Commander, U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity
Commander
Colonel Russell Coleman received his B.S. Degree in Biology from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1982, a M.S. Degree in Medical Entomology from the University of Tennessee in 1984, and a Ph.D. in Medical Entomology from the University of Massachusetts in 1987. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he was awarded a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). In 1988, Colonel Coleman was commissioned as a Captain in the U. S. Army and assigned to the Department of Entomology at WRAIR. In September, 1990 he deployed to Saudi Arabia with the 714th Medical Detachment for Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Upon return to WRAIR in April, 1991, he was selected as the Manager of the Chemotherapy Branch in the Department of Entomology. Colonel Coleman's subsequent assignments included an internship as a U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) Technology Staff Officer at the Pentagon; Chief of the Department of Vector Assessment at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Md.; Commander of the 105th Medical Detachment, Fort Lewis, Wash.; Chief of the Department of Entomology at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand; and Director of the Diagnostics System Division at USAMRIID. In 1995, Colonel Coleman deployed to Zaire as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) team responding to an Ebola Virus outbreak, and in 2003 he deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) as the Chief of the Preventive Medicine Section of the 520th Theater Army Medical Laboratory. Upon his return from Iraq, COL Coleman's most recent assignment was as the Director of the Division of Entomology at the WRAIR.
Colonel Coleman's military education includes the Army Medical Department Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Combined Arms Service Staff School, the Command and General Staff College, the Sustaining Base Leadership and Management Course, and the Program Managers course. He has been awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge and the Air Assault Badge. Colonel Coleman is the author of over 75 scientific publications, and has been the Primary Investigator or Co-Investigator on a variety of National Institutes of Health (NIH), WHO, and Department of Defense competitive grants.
Colonel Coleman is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps and is Level III Acquisition Certified in Program Management and Level III Acquisition Certified in Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering. His military awards and decorations include the Order of Military Medical Merit, the Surgeon General's "9A" designator, the Bronze Star Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, the U.S. Public Health Service Achievement Medal and a variety of service and campaign medals.