Photo By Dan Kuester | NEWPORT, R.I. (Oct. 7, 2015) Cmdr. Monique Gourdine-Shaw makes a point during...... read more read more
By Daniel L. Kuester
U.S. Naval War College
NEWPORT, R.I. – Breaking new ground was not the goal of one student when she arrived on campus at U.S. Naval War College (NWC) in August 2015, but that is what she did when she became the first of her profession to attend the college.
“I am a naval officer. I am in the Medical Service Corps. And, oh by the way, I am a podiatrist,” said Cmdr. Monique Gourdine-Shaw about becoming the first foot doctor to attend NWC.
An officer focusing on medically and surgically managing problems of the foot and lower-extremities might seem like an odd fit to attend the oldest and one of the most prestigious war colleges in the world.
The young leader doesn’t think so.
“Most people think that as a physician the only thing they need to know is medicine,” said Gourdine-Shaw. “What most people don’t realize is that you still need to know how to be a leader. And you don’t wake up one morning being a leader. You need experience, exposure and teaching. And the Naval War College is the home of Navy thought.”
She has had some experience already in leadership positions both while deployed and here in the United States where she recently served as chief of podiatry services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
While deployed as an orthopedic and traumatology surgeon mentor, she diagnosed and treated people with foot and ankle trauma, including blast injuries and other lower extremity pathologies at the Afghan National Police Hospital.
Back in the United States, the role of Gourdine-Shaw and other podiatrists is to “return the service member to some form of function to transition or continue on active duty,” she said.
“If they have traumatic arthritis, joint pain, ankle pain, damaged fore foot, damaged toes, we surgically repair them and get the foot plantar grade (flat on the floor) and into a shoe.”
She explained that often service members who are confined to their beds for a long time can experience equinus, a condition where their feet start to point downward. This condition often occurs because the needs of the lower extremity are overlooked.
“Everyone is concerned about the heart and brain while that patient is in bed, and people forget about the feet,” she said.
Gourdine-Shaw is absorbing the leadership lessons being presented at the college and particularly those offered by its president, Rear Adm. P. Gardner Howe III.
“Rear Adm. Howe talks about the responsibility of having conversations and reaching out to people,” Gourdine-Shaw said. “I would like to use that idea and focus on really helping people to think. And if we help [the people under us] to formulate a plan, and are proactive with leadership development, that is important. What I would like to take away from here is helping people get to the next level of leadership.
“That is why I am at the NWC – to open my aperture to learning, become a critical thinker, and further my development as a leader.”
When not striving to become the best leader possible, Gourdine-Shaw keeps her eye out for additional challenges.
While stationed in Japan several years ago, she was separated from her husband, and she needed something to occupy her off-duty hours.
“I started working out,” she said smiling. “And after I got into good shape, I saw that the base was hosting some bodybuilder competitions. I figured I won’t be horrible, so I signed up and actually won a couple of them.”
Gourdine-Shaw no longer has the time required to commit to the sport to remain a serious bodybuilder, so she is content to keep herself fit by running marathons and half-marathons.
After graduating from NWC, Gourdine-Shaw hopes to get orders to the Pentagon, Navy Bureau of Medicine or the Surgeon General’s staff.
Any of them would be a great chance to implement her new college education, and allow her to get her foot in the door to another challenge.
| Date Taken: | 10.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.13.2015 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 178806 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 460 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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