Spokesperson Bios

MC4 Commander and Product Manager
 
Lieutenant Colonel Edward T. Clayson, Ph.D., commander of the U.S. Army’s Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) program, spent months in the combat zone from 2005 to 2008 providing onsite leadership to MC4 users in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan. He says the most valuable asset of the MC4 system is not the software or state-of-the-art hardware, but the support and training provided to the medical forces.
 
“People tend to be resistant to technology,” Clayson said. “But as a result of our tremendous support and manpower on the battlefield alongside deployed MC4 users, people have accepted medical IT advancements because they have been well-trained and often have MC4 support personnel instantly available to assist them.”
 
As the Product Manager for the MC4 Product Management Office (PMO), located at Fort Detrick, Md., Lt. Col. Clayson is responsible for the overall integration, training, fielding and support efforts of the MC4 systems to deployed medical units on the battlefield.
 
“At no point has digital medical recording been more relevant than it is today,” Clayson said.
 
Under his leadership, the MC4 program has seen great expansion. Once used exclusively by Army personnel and only to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, it is now used by both Army and Air Force healthcare professionals at all forward deployed medical facilities throughout the world.
 
“The good news is everyone wants MC4. The bad news is everyone wants it right now.”
 
With more than 20 years of active military service, Lt. Col. Clayson has held a variety of management positions in basic medical research, applied research, advanced development, program management as well as research, policy and oversight management.
 
Lt. Col. Clayson graduated with honors from Auburn University and earned his commission through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as a Distinguished Military Graduate. He earned a doctorate in philosophy in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a graduate of 25 military courses including the Army Medical Department’s (AMEDD) Basic and Advanced Officer Courses (Honor Graduate), the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Defense Acquisition University’s Advanced Program Manager’s Course.
 
Lt. Col. Clayson’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Meritorious Unit Citation, Army Superior Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal with three bronze stars, and the NATO ISAF Medal. Lt. Col. Clayson also has been awarded the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge.
 
He also earned the U.S. Army Surgeon General’s prestigious “9A” designator for sustained demonstration of exceptional professional ability in the field of microbiology, and in 2001 he was inducted into the AMEDD’s Order of Military Medical Merit for making significant life-long contributions to the Army Medical Department.
 
Under Lt. Col. Clayson’s leadership, his MC4 team has won more than a dozen military, academic and industry awards, including the American Council for Technology’s 2008 Top 5 Excellence.gov Team Award for improving organizational performance using information technology, and the DoD Chief Information Officer’s 2006 Team Award for outstanding achievement in DoD information management. In 2007, Lt. Col. Clayson was recognized with Federal Computer Week magazine’s Fed 100 Award for leading significant change in the government’s use of information technology.