The World Affairs Council of Austin, in collaboration with Dell Medical School and ACC’s International Business Institute, is pleased to host Vice Admiral Raquel Bono for a discussion of her career as both a Naval Officer and healthcare provider. Vice Admiral Bono’s presentation will focus on the military health system, as well as the Navy’s overall mission.
Vice Admiral Bono saw duty in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head, Casualty Receiving, Fleet Hospital 5 in Saudi Arabia from August 1990 to March 1991. Upon returning, she was stationed at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth as a surgeon in the General Surgery department; surgical intensivist in the Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit and attending surgeon at the Burn Trauma Unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Her various appointed duties included division head of Trauma; head of the Ambulatory Procedures Department (APD); chair of the Laboratory Animal Care and Use Committee; assistant head of the Clinical Investigations and Research department; chair of the Medical Records Committee and command intern coordinator. She has also served as the specialty leader for Intern Matters to the surgeon general of the Navy.
In September 1999, she was assigned as the director of Restorative Care at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, followed by assignment to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from September 2001 to December 2002 as the Medical Corps career planning officer for the chief of the Medical Corps. She returned to the National Naval Medical Center in January 2003 as director for Medical–Surgical Services.
From August 2004 through August 2005, she served as the executive assistant to the 35th Navy Surgeon General and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Following that, she reported to Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida, as the commanding officer from August 2005 to August 2008. She then served as the chief of staff, deputy director Tricare Management Activity (TMA) of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs (OASD(HA)) from September 2008 to June 2010. She later served as deputy director, Medical Resources, Plans and Policy (N093), chief of Naval Operations.
From November 2011 to June 2013, she served as the command surgeon, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. From July 2013 to September 2013, she served as acting commander Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical. From September 2013 to October 2015, she served as director, National Capital Region Medical Directorate of the Defense Health Agency, and as the 11th Chief, Navy Medical Corps. She currently serves as director, Defense Health Agency.
Bono is a diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and has an Executive MBA from the Carson College of Business at Washington State University.
Her personal decorations include Defense Superior Service Medal (three), Legion of Merit Medal (four), Meritorious Service Medal (two) and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal (two).
Commissioned in June 1979, Vice Adm. Raquel Bono obtained her baccalaureate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and attended medical school at Texas Tech University. She completed a surgical internship and a General Surgery residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, and a Trauma and Critical Care fellowship at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine in Norfolk.
