
Home Institution: The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Health Services Administration), Bethesda, MD
Field: Neurology
Current Positions:
- Project Administrator, The Green Road Project
- Project Officer, The Epidaurus Project
My Driving Question
How do we spread the model of holistic care established at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to other health care facilities, both civilian and military?
Scholar Project
The Epidaurus Project: Writing Its History for the Future
Since 2001, Dr. Foote has played a leading role in an initiative to introduce an unprecedented level of holistic care and assessment in the Military Health System. This effort, known as the Epidaurus Project, aims to enhance the health of service members and veterans through:- Family-centered approaches
- Multi-disciplinary care integration
- Tools and practices that support wellness, including nutrition, exercise, mind-body medicine, complementary/alternative medicine, healing arts, and spirituality
- Evidence-based design of healing environments
Biography
Frederick O. Foote, MD, a retired U.S. Navy physician, leads the Epidaurus Project, which aims to integrate whole-person care in hospitals and clinics throughout the U.S. Military Health System.
A practicing neurologist for 20 years, Dr. Foote served at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD, in numerous positions, including chairman of the NNMC Ethics Committee and team leader of the Neurosciences Service Line. As head of special projects for the Neuro-musculskeletal Service Line, he was responsible for the inception, funding acquisition, and development of clinical programs, including the Vietnam Head Injury Study, Conemaugh/Jackson Neurosciences Research Program, NNMC Multidisciplinary Sleep Center, NNMC Spine Center, NNMC Centers of Excellence for Cranial-Spinal Surgery and Total Joint Replacement, and the NIH/NNMC Center for Musculoskeletal Research.
Dr. Foote served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a staff neurologist and assistant medical department head on the USNS COMFORT, a seagoing medical treatment facility. He was then deployed to West Africa, where he developed programs for improving health care at sea, including the IMPACT at Sea Program for medical quality management; the IWO Successful Sailors Program; and initiatives in space redesign, infection control, and mass casualty care.
In 2006, he was appointed project officer of the Epidaurus Project. In that role, he serves as a subject matter expert in advanced health facilities design, holistic medicine, use of the arts in health care, and patient/family centered care. He was assigned as an advisor to design teams for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, The National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (NICoE), and the Medical Home and Patient/Family Centered Care initiatives at NNMC.
Dr. Foote has been honored by the Navy with two Meritorious Service Medals, four Commendation Medals, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Good Conduct Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal, and a National Defense Medal.
His 2014 book of war poetry, Medic Against Bomb, inspired by his experiences in Afghanistan treating the wounded of the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, received the Grayson Poetry Prize among other honors.
Education and Training
- Residency, neurology, Yale University School of Medicine
- Internship, University of Tennessee Hospital
- MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine
- MS, pharmacology, Georgetown University School of Medicine
- BA, general studies in the humanities, University of Chicago
Selected Honors
- Two Navy Meritorious Service Medals
- Four Navy Commendation Medals
- Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
- Navy Good Conduct Medal
- Navy Humanitarian Service Medal
- National Defense Medal
- Sandoz Award for Pharmacology Research
Selected Publications
A nature-based health intervention at a military healthcare center: a randomized, controlled, cross-over study. PeerJ, 2021.
- Advanced Metrics for Assessing Holistic Care: The “Epidaurus 2” Project.
Global Advances in Health and Medicine, February 2018 - Holistic Care in the US Military I-The Epidaurus Project: An Initiative in Holistic Medicine for the Military Health System, 2001-2012.
Global Advances in Health and Medicine, May 2012 - The Epidaurus Project: Holism in Department of Defense Health Facilities.
Military Medicine, January 2012 - Holism at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE).
Explore, September 2012 - Use Data to Improve Medical Care at Sea.
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 2011 - A Tuberculosis Event on a Navy Assault Ship.
Military Medicine, December 2006 - COMFORT’s Casualty Care System Works!
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 2006 - See research papers on PubMed