Dr. C.J. Kucik, MD, MA, DMCC, FASA, FCCP, FCCM, FACHE, CJCP, CPHQ

Expert Publications

• Management of acute nasal fractures.
• Management of epistaxis.

Media Releases

Get to know Anesthesiologist Dr. Jeb Kucik, who serves patients in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jeb Kucik serves as Force Surgeon for the combined Marine Forces Reserve/Marine Forces South (MARFORRES/MARFORSOUTH) Headquarters, New Orleans, LA. As senior medical advisor to the Commanding General, he oversees the readiness of and delivery of healthcare services to over 35,000 drilling Selected Reserve and over 60,000 Individual Ready Reserve Marines at over 150 Home Training Centers throughout the U.S. through the Reserve Health Readiness Program, Injury Management Program, review of specific cases for admission to the Reserves, and oversight of the Health Services Support offices of all MARFORRES Major Subordinate Commands (4th Marine Division, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, 4th Marine Logistics Group, and Force Headquarters Group). In MARFORSOUTH duties, he collaborates with the U.S. Southern Command Surgeon and partner nation medical leaders on all manner of training and exchange opportunities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to the betterment of Marine Corps readiness and medical responsiveness. Additionally, he is program manager of the MARFORRES Fleet Marine Force Warfare Officer program, the qualification by which Navy officers (Chaplains, Dentists, Nurses, Medical Planners, Allied Health Professionals, and Physicians) prove their merit to serve with “The Few, The Proud.” Since May 2021, he has also served concurrently as Navy Anesthesiology Specialty Leader (Consultant to the Surgeon General), managing graduate education and career progression needs of over 180 Navy Anesthesiologists.

Jeb graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree (with distinction) in Honors English and German, and from the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in 2001. He completed a Family Medicine internship at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, FL, before serving as a Flight Surgeon with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron-251 and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, SC. He next completed the National Capital Consortium Anesthesiology Residency, Bethesda, MD, serving as Chief Resident and Housestaff Senate President at the National Naval Medical Center (now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), where he was also selected as Junior Officer of the Year. He next completed the Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital Surgical Critical Care Fellowship. Throughout these years, he provided volunteer support to several Marine Corps Reserve, Army Reserve, and National Guard units, as well as the Massachusetts-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MA-1 DMAT) of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS).

From 2009-2012, he was an Instructor at the Navy Trauma Training Center, Los Angeles, CA; an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Keck School of Medicine; and a Truman National Security Fellow. Splitting time between Navy and USC teaching duties, he was the first Navy faculty to receive USC’s “Excellence in Clinical Instruction” award. Selected for a new “futurist” role, he next served at the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) in the M5 (Strategy and Innovations) Directorate as Head, Healthcare Net Assessments, Future Healthcare Innovations; as Co-Director of the Surgeon General Assessment Cell (SGAC), the “Think Tank of Navy Medicine”; as Requirements Department Head, Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate; as a Naval Institute Leadership Fellow; and as the sole medical member of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell. During this tour, he deployed as Senior Intensivist and Medical Intelligence Officer at the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

From 2015to 2018, he served at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, CA in several roles, including ICU Medical Director; Research Director; Quality/Safety Physician Advisor; Quality Management Department Head; Acting Director of Surgical Services; Medical Executive Committee Chair; and Chief Medical Officer (CMO). He was selected in 2018 as the first “Milestone” (Navy-wide selection board) CMO of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, WA. At only 6 weeks on the job, he saw that organization through its highly successful triennial Joint Commission survey. Due to COVID-19 personnel shortages, he served for five months as both CMO and Interim Executive Officer (COO). As the only ICU physician on the island, he advanced civil-military partnership through both clinical and advisory work with WhidbeyHealth Medical Center, the island’s only inpatient facility, as well as with the Island County Board of Health, contributing to the community’s impressive success in managing COVID-19 in comparison to other areas of Washington. During this time, he also served as a member of Washington State’s COVID-19 Critical Care Collaborative, as a Seattle World Affairs Council Fellow, and as a U.S. Department of State grant reviewer for the Young Transatlantic Innovators Leadership Initiative.

Pulled 8 months early from these duties due to Senate Armed Services Committee concerns regarding COVID-19’s threat to the Detainee population, CAPT Kucik served from 2020-2022 as the first oversight CMO, U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a post created by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information clearance. Reporting directly to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, he served as the only non-anonymized medical officer involved in Detainee care, guiding provision of medical, surgical, and mental health care for all Detainees; assessing detention operations of the 1300+ member Joint Task Force-Guantánamo (JTF-G); leading strategic working groups within the Office of the Secretary of Defense; evaluating Detainees being considered for transfer; advising the Periodic Review Board on transfer suitability; participating in/overseeing repatriations; serving as liaison with International Committee of the Red Cross delegates; contributing to a host of Congressional and interagency delegation visits; providing advice to Naval Station Guantánamo Bay leadership on COVID-19 clinical and preventive measures; testifying before the Office of Military Commissions (OMC); and submitting an NDAA 2022-mandated Report to Congress focused on quality of Detainee care, JTF-G/U.S. Southern Command performance, and recommendations regarding closure. His work contributed to 26 of the then 40 remaining Detainees being moved to the “approved for transfer” list, and he oversaw the repatriation of 4 Detainees during his tenure. His testimony regarding surgical care contributed markedly to the first plea deal amongst the 10 Detainees on trial before the OMC. Having left Guantánamo briefly to maintain clinical skills through off-duty ICU employment, he was fortunate to have been on call at Waukesha Memorial Hospital and able to lead a roving triage team when that facility responded as the closest medical center to Waukesha’s 2021 Christmas Parade attack.

CAPT Kucik is board certified in Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, and Undersea/Hyperbaric Medicine; is an anesthesiology Board Examiner; is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP), the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), and the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE); and is a member of The Academy of Anesthesiology, a by-invitation society of 70 top national leaders in anesthesia. He completed Marine Corps Amphibious (now Expeditionary) Warfare School, Air Force Squadron Officer School, and Joint Professional Military Education at both the Naval and Marine Corps Command and Staff Colleges, having been recognized by the former as the youngest and most junior graduate in that institution’s history. He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations (emphasis in Middle Eastern Affairs) from American Military University, a Leadership and Management Certificate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, a Diploma in Medicine in Conflict and Catastrophes (DMCC) from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, and an executive education certificate in Crisis Management from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), a NATO Medical Evaluator able to advise multinational medical units on quality and procedural improvements in preparation for deployment, a DMCC Examiner, and is the only Navy doctor qualified as a Certified Joint Commission Professional (CJCP). A Navy Global Health Engagement professional, he has experience in medical diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response.

CAPT Kucik has successively served as Secretary, Director, Vice President, President-Elect, and now President of the Uniformed Services Society of Anesthesiologists, ensuring military representation and translation of battlefield lessons learned to civilian anesthesia practice through service on the board of the 58,000-member American Society of Anesthesiologists. He has continued to serve as a Lead for the SGAC; as a member or lead of the Surgeon General’s Jointness, Readiness, and Partnership Strategic Goal Groups; as Operations and Governance Lead for Navy Medicine’s Trauma Strategy Management Office; and as a guest lecturer for the BUMED Quality and Safety Leadership Academy. Having held faculty appointments at five academic institutions, he has lectured extensively at regional, national, and international meetings, and has attained the academic rank of Associate Professor. In addition to 50 publications and over 150 formal presentations, he co-edited Essentials of Disaster Anesthesia, 1st ed., published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.

He is qualified as a Naval Flight Surgeon (Honor Graduate), Army Flight Surgeon, Submariner, Diver/Undersea Medical Officer, Static-Line Parachute Jumpmaster (Honor Graduate), and Fleet Marine Force Warfare Officer, and has served as a designated Career Counselor in five commands. He is a recipient of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States “Rising Star” Award, the U.S. Army’s Order of Military Medical Merit, the Most Venerable Order of Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute’s “Fox Flag” Prize (awarded to the top Naval Flight Surgeon graduate). During his Afghanistan tour, he was personally commended by the U.S. Ambassador for his interagency work, specifically supporting State Department and Drug Enforcement Agency operations. His military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards), Navy Commendation Medal (6 awards), Army Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal (3 awards), and Public Health Service Achievement Medal.

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