The Fort Bragg Department of Public Health announced it has completed a rigorous peer-review process to maintain its national accreditation status through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB).

In maintaining its accreditation status for another five years, the department has demonstrated that it not only meets PHAB’s strict quality standards but possesses the capacity to continuously evolve, innovate and drive the future of military public health.

The non-profit PHAB works to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, strong infrastructure and innovation. The Fort Bragg Department of Public Health first achieved this milestone on March 17, 2020, becoming the world’s second military installation to do so. To date, it remains one of only five accredited military public health departments on the globe.

This milestone represents a monumental, total department effort across all public health sections, from clinical services and environmental health to health promotion and epidemiology. By working as a unified team, the department has successfully integrated robust, data-driven methods to drive command-informed decisions across the installation. These collaborative efforts have secured over $2.68 million in external grant funding to support installation health initiatives with zero impact on the hospital’s budget, while scaling local food security solutions to a collaborative network of nearly 60 military installations worldwide.

“We are so pleased to again be recognized by PHAB for achieving national standards that foster effectiveness and promote continuous quality improvement,” said LTC Donofrio, director of the Fort Bragg Department of Public Health, in a press release. “This milestone proves that our department remains the gold standard of military public health. I also want to extend our deepest gratitude to retired Army physicians Col. Sheryl Bedno and Lt. Col. Teresa Pearce, whose foundational leadership and unwavering support paved the way for our accreditation journey. We hope this announcement reassures our military community and command leadership that the proactive services we provide are actively ensuring warfighter readiness and family resilience.”