About the MSC > History > About the Author

COL Richard Van Ness Ginn was commissioned from ROTC as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1965 upon graduation with a BA from Stetson University and entered active duty in 1966 after graduate study. He has an MA from Duke University and an MHA from Baylor University. Completion of the U.S. Army - Baylor University Program in Healthcare Administration in 1977 as the Distinguished Honor Graduate was followed by a residency in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. In 1981 he was an honor graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, where he also served as a student instructor. He is a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Army War College. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Combat Medical Badge, and the Senior Parachutist Badge.

Colonel Ginn has had a wide variety of military assignments in CONUS as well as Panama, Vietnam, and Europe.

Colonel Ginn is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is listed in Who's Who in America. In 1977 he became the first Army Medical Service Corps officer to win the Sir Henry Wellcome Medal, the oldest award of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and in 1982 he was the first recipient of the association's Young Federal Health Care Administrator Award. He is a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit, and a Distinguished Member of the U.S. Army Medical Department Regiment. He wrote this book while stationed in Washington, Belgium, Germany, Maryland, and Virginia. Colonel Ginn retired in December 1995 and is currently President and CEO, Capital Health Services, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia.