Day in the Life

Follow five military physicians as they navigate the challenges and rewards during one day of service.
5 PHYSICIANS. 24 HOURS.
day-in-the-life-hero
Burdash_Profile
Winegarner_Profile
Nguyen
Forsberg
Trentini
Burdash_Profile

Sara Burdash, M.D.

Field Surgeon, Army National Guard

Winegarner_Profile

Hunter Winegarner, M.D.

Special Forces Battalion Surgeon, Army

Nguyen

Josephine Nguyen, M.D.

Dermatologist, Navy

Forsberg

Jonathan Forsberg, M.D., Ph.D.

Orthopaedic Oncologist, Navy

Trentini

John Trentini, M.D., Ph.D.

Emergency Medicine Resident, Air Force

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06:00PM

Spending Time With Family

Despite a busy career, Jonathan still finds time to spend with his family at their home in Bethesda, Md. When he gets home from work, he helps his daughters with their homework then sits down for dinner.

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Jonathan Forsberg, M.D., Ph.D.

Orthopaedic Oncologist, Navy

Spending Time With Family

Despite a busy career, Jonathan still finds time to spend with his family at their home in Bethesda, Md. When he gets home from work, he helps his daughters with their homework then sits down for dinner.

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FORSBERG: I did get into some civilian medical schools, but my wife and I decided this would be the best course of action, and looking back, I’m convinced that that’s the case. The Military afforded me a world-class medical education, and also the opportunity to be exposed to health care in a variety of settings, not just in this country but abroad, deployed upon ships, in the middle of the desert — I mean, these are very challenging places to deliver health care. It’s great to come home after a long day, obviously. You know, my family’s my support staff, quite frankly. They do so much for me behind the scenes, and they really allow me to be as successful as I can be, knowing that they’re here. I think working as much as I do allows me to maintain a work-life balance on certain days. For instance, on a clinical day, I’m tied to the hospital until the work is finished, period. And on a lab day I get a bit more flexibility to go in between institutions. That still allows me a lot of time to spend time with my family, and I’m grateful for that. So what — what do you think is the difference between all of these numbers?

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06:11AM

"Last weekend, we bought Cormac a new pair of hockey skates. He says they make him go super fast."

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06:25PM

"I set up a hostage rescue situation out in the woods on my farmland. We have Moose on the ground and a simulated sniper situated in the tree stand for a more realistic training exercise."

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06:27PM

"This is my wife Morgan and my two-year-old daughter Reese. This is Reese's first time on skates, and that's right around the age we started Cormac."

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06:41PM

"I put these gloves down on the rink so that Cormac can learn how to make turns on his skates while keeping the puck in control with his stick."

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06:45PM

Home Brew System

Jonathan is a homebrewer, and he invites a colleague over to his house to brew a new lager.

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Jonathan Forsberg, M.D., Ph.D.

Orthopaedic Oncologist, Navy

Home Brew System

Jonathan is a homebrewer, and he invites a colleague over to his house to brew a new lager.

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FORSBERG: Alright. So everything’s ready. Temperature is — I think the temperature is just right, so we’re going to go ahead and go in. MATT: Alright. FORSBERG: Whenever you want. I’ve been doing this for a while. Ten years, maybe. Technology’s changed a lot in that time. Had a chance to accumulate some of this equipment and make some of it from scratch. MATT: I think the best one that we did was a recreation of the Founder’s Breakfast Stout, which was a dark chocolatey stout. We put it on nitro tap, which was — can’t get it anywhere like that, so. FORSBERG: Oh, it was great. And Matt and his wife Lindsey got married, and we brewed the beer for their wedding reception. That was a lot of fun.

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06:47PM

"I built this temperature control panel while I was deciding whether or not to enter a Ph.D. program. I ordered the parts and found some plans on the Internet, but modified it a little bit to fit my needs. It helps control the mash temperature and automates the process of beer brewing to make it more reproducible."

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06:50PM

"These hops are a Father's Day gift from my wife, Dawn. They were planted about three weeks ago and you can see they grow like weeds. I plan to use these for my next IPA."

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06:55PM

"Cormac and I made a snowman out of ice shavings. I've been playing hockey all my life, so it's really important to me to be out here on the rink and spend this kind of time with my family."

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