Fred Foote

Frederick O. Foote, MD, is a retired U.S. Navy physician and leads the Epidaurus Project at Nova, which aims to integrate whole-person care in hospitals and clinics throughout the U.S. Military Health System.

A practicing neurologist for 20 years, Dr. Foote served at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD, in numerous positions, including chairman of the NNMC Ethics Committee and team leader of the Neurosciences Service Line.

Dr. Foote served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a staff neurologist and assistant medical department head on the USNS COMFORT, a seagoing medical treatment facility. He was then deployed to West Africa, where he developed programs for improving health care at sea, including the IMPACT at Sea Program for medical quality management; the IWO Successful Sailors Program; and initiatives in space redesign, infection control, and mass casualty care.

In 2006, he was appointed project officer of the Epidaurus Project. In that role, he serves as a subject matter expert in advanced health facilities design, holistic medicine, use of the arts in health care, and patient/family centered care. He was assigned as an advisor to design teams for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s Green Road, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, The National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (NICoE), and the Medical Home and Patient/Family Centered Care initiatives at NNMC.

Dr. Foote has been honored by the Navy with two Meritorious Service Medals, four Commendation Medals, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Good Conduct Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal, and a National Defense Medal.

His 2014 book of war poetry, Medic Against Bomb, inspired by his experiences in Afghanistan treating the wounded of the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, received the Grayson Poetry Prize among other honors.