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The Val G. Hemming Award

• Past Recipients of the Val G. Hemming Award

The Val G Hemming Award, given by the Uniformed Services Section of the American Academy of Pediatric, is an annual citation and purse for the best paper by a Uniformed Services medical student.

This award was first presented in Washington, DC in 2003.

The award is named in honor of Dr Val G Hemming whose devotion to medical education as Chairman of Pediatrics at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences is legendary.

Doctor Hemming was chosen as Dean, F. Edward Hèbert School of Medicine in May 1996.  Prior to assuming the position of Interim Dean of the school in the summer of 1995, he had been the University’s Chair of Pediatrics, which he held upon retirement from the Air Force in October 1990. 

From Rexburg, Idaho, Dr. Hemming attended Idaho State University and Ricks College, ID.  He holds a Bachelors Degree in Entomology from the University of Utah, and received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Utah College of Medicine in 1966.  He then completed a mixed medicine-pediatric internship at the University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals in 1967.

Dr. Hemming was accepted into the US Air Force Senior Medical Student Program in 1965, and served on active-duty with the Air Force during the fourth year of medical school and his internship.  Subsequently, he completed training as an Air Force flight surgeon at Brooks Air Force Base, TX, during the summer of 1967.  His next assignment was to Mather Air Force Base, CA, and then he returned to Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center, TX, for residency training in pediatrics in 1968.

Following a four-year assignment in Germany, he obtained a Air Force-sponsored infectious diseases fellowship in the departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Utah.  In 1976, Dr. Hemming was assigned to David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, CA, where he later became the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Director of Pediatric Residency Program.

He was assigned to the Department of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1980, and then appointed as Chair of Pediatrics in 1987.  From 1983 through 1990 he also served as Specialty Consultant in Pediatrics to the Air Force Surgeon General, and from 1987 through 1990 as the Consultant in Pediatrics to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs).

Academics and research interest have included pathogenesis of Lancefield group B streptococcal infections in neonate, pathogenesis of lower respiratory tract bacterial and viral infections in infants and young children, and pediatric education for undergraduate medical students.  Most significant is his research in the Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection.  This resulted in the development of two biological products for prevention of RSV infection in children, which have been widespread clinical use since 1996.

During his tenure as Dean, Doctor Hemming has worked tirelessly to maintain the highest levels of academic excellence at the Uniformed Services University, while encouraging an enthusiastic sense of mission among the members of our community.  This has resulted in continuous growth and development of innovative new programs in nearly every department.  He played a critical role in the creation of The Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences National Capital Are Medical Simulation Center, one of the most advanced medical training facilities in the world.  His vigorous promotion of the University has led to several highly successful new national and international academic relationships.  Despite these senior responsibilities, Dean Hemming has always remained highly available to all members of the medical and graduate student classes, and has personally mentored a large number of them in their development as physicians, researchers, and educators.  All members of the Uniformed Services University hold him in their highest regard and wish him well in his continued career endeavors.

He and his wife Alice (Bell) are the parents of Heidi (b. 1963), Julie (b. 1967), Jill (b. 1969) and Patrick (b. 1979).  They have seven grandchildren, including Colin and Copeland Smith (Heidi); Jeremiah, Lucy, and Ella Savage (Julie); and Graham and Benjamin Austin (Jill).