Brooke Army Medical Center’s award-winning care honors its namesake

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Pioneering military doctor Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Roger Brooke, whose name is honored by Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, trained thousands of military doctors and specialized in infectious diseases. The hospital continues the medical foundational figure’s legacy through award-winning care for warfighters.

Education accelerates early military career

Brooke joined the U.S. Army in 1901 after graduating from medical school a year earlier. His first assignment was to the Philippines in 1902. He was assigned to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, in 1905, and in 1911, he became head of medical services at Letterman General Hospital at the U.S. Army’s Presidio in San Francisco, California.

Brooke played an important readiness role during America’s involvement in World War I, leading the Medical Officers' Training Camp at Camp Greenleaf in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, from September 1917 until December 1918.

As the camp’s senior instructor and assistant commandant for 15 months, Brooke oversaw the training of front-line emergency care for about 10,000 medical officers and 70,000 enlisted men, according to a 1970 biography in the journal Military Medicine. For his leadership, he received one of the first Distinguished Service Medals — the country’s highest award for meritorious service or achievement.

Honoring Brooke’s teaching legacy, BAMC is the largest force-generating platform, hosting training and education specialty programs through the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium.

Discovering a deadly disease

Brooke was also a leader in the research of infectious diseases, particularly the airborne bacterial disease tuberculosis, and shepherded the use of chest X-rays in the military to screen for the disease.

Tuberculosis remained a readiness issue in WWI and World War II among those deployed overseas, according to a 2017 public health journal article, “Tuberculosis Screening and Control in the US Military in War and Peace.” The author is a Uniformed Services University physician and professor of preventive medicine, James Mancuso, a retired U.S. Army colonel.

Brooke’s interest in controlling the disease started at Fort Bayard, according to Mancuso’s article. The U.S. Army had set up a sanatorium there to provide nonmedical treatment for tuberculosis after cases spiked in the military during the Spanish-American War.

Brooke and other military scientists’ expertise led to the use of chest X-rays in the mid-30’s and during WWII to check draftees and volunteers for tuberculosis. Today, healthcare providers use chest X-rays for tuberculosis diagnosis in addition to blood and skin tests.

In January 1920, Brooke was named chief of the tuberculosis section of the Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General, Washington, D.C. His later tours of duty included the Veterans Bureau as chief medical consultant; Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

BAMC’s history and strengths today

Fort Sam Houston constructed its first permanent hospital in 1886. From 1928 to 1933, Brooke commanded the Station Hospital, serving until a new facility underwent construction. Brooke died in 1940 of a heart attack.

In September 1942, the U.S. Army named the hospital Brooke General Hospital in his honor, and, in 1946, the facilities at the San Antonio military medical complex were given his name.

After WWII, Fort Sam Houston was nicknamed the “Home of Army Medicine” for its emphasis on military medical education, according to its museum.

BAMC is the largest hospital in the Defense Health Agency and its only Level I trauma center, offering specialists and research support around the clock for the most serious injuries. Service members wounded overseas come to the hospital for treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation after stabilization. BAMC has 40 special beds in the renowned U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center.

The hospital is the top medical readiness training center in the Military Health System and regularly earns “A” grades from Leapfrog, a group that rates hospitals nationwide on patient safety and quality.

In addition, BAMC is home to many specialty services and centers of excellence that fully support wounded warriors, veterans, beneficiaries, and the public with the latest technologies and techniques. These include:

· Center for the Intrepid for advanced rehabilitation of patients with amputation, burns, or functional limb loss · Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic · Pediatric cancer specialty center, one of six in the MHS · Ocular Trauma Specialty Center of Excellence · Maxillofacial Restoration Center of Excellence · Substance Use Disorder Center of Excellence · Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as ECMO, a lifesaving machine that provides temporary support for inadequately functioning heart or lungs

While serving military members and veterans, BAMC also serves a civilian catchment area of 22 counties in southwest Texas, with about 2.8 million people. Because of its strong community ties and proximity to the largest active duty and retired military population in the U.S., BAMC is a proven partner in San Antonio’s trademarked nickname, “Military City USA.”

During a 2025 visit to BAMC, Dr. Stephen Ferrara, former acting assistant secretary of war for health affairs, praised the medical center for sustaining surgical and treatment skills through its high-volume, high-complexity cases.

On April 17, 2026, BAMC celebrated the hospital’s 30th anniversary at its current location, building 3600. During the celebration, former commander, retired Army Col. (Dr.) Evan Renz, said BAMC provides “world-class medical care to our sons and daughters who were injured while performing their military mission. That is why we exist.”

Renz pointed out that BAMC is a readiness platform that continuously trains to provide combat casualty care worldwide. “That is what we do here … better than anywhere else in the world.”