Who We Are
Navy Captain Paul S. Hammer
Director,
Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE)
Captain Hammer is the director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Captain Hammer received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of San Francisco and his medical doctorate from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). He completed a psychiatry internship at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and his psychiatry residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego.
Prior to being the director of DCoE, Capt. Hammer served as the director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control at the Naval Medical Center (also known as NCCOSC), San Diego, California. The mission of NCCOSC is to improve the psychological health of Navy and Marine Corps forces through programs that aid research, educate service members, build resilience and promote best practices in the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Captain Hammer has personally trained thousands of service members in operational stress control, psychological health and traumatic brain injury topics.
Captain Hammer deployed to Iraq twice, spending a total of 18 months in the combat theater. He provided direct care to warriors in the combat environment, treating Marines and sailors suffering from acute combat stress reactions and directed psychological health care activities of more than two dozen caregivers for 33,000 service members. Captain Hammer has led interventions following suicides, training accidents and natural and man-made disasters. He led the psychiatric intervention at the Korean Air Lines Crash in Guam in 1997 and the Joint Task Force Mental Health interventions following Hurricane Mitch.
Capt. Hammer’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (three Awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), Joint Service Achievement medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and Expert Rifle and Pistol ribbons.
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