Christina La Croix D.O.

Education

Advanced Foundations in Health Professions, HPE program, USUHS

Psychiatry Residency, WRNMMC Bethesda, MD

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency, WRNMMC, Bethesda, MD

Transitional Internship, NNMC, Bethesda MD

Doctor of Osteopathy, AZCOM, Glendale, AZ

B.A. Classical Languages/Civilization, Fordham University, Bronx NY

Biography

CDR La Croix was originally from New York City, where she received her BA in classical languages/classical civilization from Fordham University. She received her osteopathic medical degree from Midwestern University, where she graduated with highest honors, including the Glascow-Rubin Achievement Citation and the Sigma Sigma Phi Honors Society. She was selected to do her transitional internship at National Naval Hospital (now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, WRNMMC), followed by a tour as a General Medical Officer at the Navy Annex of the DiLorenzo Clinic at the Pentagon, where she managed a patient panel of 1500 patients. The Navy allowed CDR La Croix to have an exception to policy, and she was allowed to train with the Army in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), where she was chief resident and graduated with academic honors. She was then an attending at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where she worked as head of inpatient PMR, head of outpatient PMR, director of DME and also served as service chief of PMR.

Wanting to further serve the warfighter, CDR La Croix requested and was selected for a second psychiatry residency training at WRNMMC. After graduation from psychiatry residency, she served as Department Chief of the Behavioral Health Consultation-Liaison Service at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital where, as Product Line Lead for Telebehavioral Health for the Defense Health Agency she implemented many key policies to ensure safe and effective emergent psychiatric care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CDR La Croix then was selected to be director of the medical services and director of behavioral health, as well as seeing patients as both a physiatrist and a psychiatrist at the Intrepid Spirt Center at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. CDR La Croix was also the head of research at the ISC and was principal investigator on many multi-center research projects on Traumatic Brain Injury (with a total of nine million dollars in grants), as she is also board certified in Brain Injury Medicine. She was voted by her peers as the first ever recipient as the first ever recipient of the COL Peter J. Weisma Award for Excellence in Research (Researcher of the Year for Fort Belvoir Community Hospital). She was also additionally recognized as first runner up for the Early Career Psychiatry Award in 2021 for all psychiatrists in the United States Navy, and as an Associate Master Clinician (2021) and as a Master Clinician (2022) for exceptional patient care.

CDR La Croix has lectured and had poster presentations for the Veterans Administration, American Psychiatric Association, and the Association of Academic Physiatry, among many others. She sat on many leadership committees at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital including Executive Committee of the Medical Staff and the Process Improvement Functional Management Team, where she was the physician co-chair. She is currently co-chair of the Operational Virtual Mental Health for the United States Navy, which is developing the current policies and procedures to provide mental health care for sailors on board ships and submarines and sits on the Virtual Health Working Group for the Defense Health Agency developing DHA policy for VH. She also sits as a psychiatry/physiatry representative on the Neuromuscular Sub-Committee Board for the United States Navy which is developing policies to improve female sailor recruitment and retention.

She was an assistant professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) since 2014, and is also an assistant professor of psychiatry since 2023. She has also volunteered to edit and rewrite USU examinations in multiple specialties to comply with NBME requirements. She also a graduate of the USU AFHPE program, graduating with a 4.0 grade point average, and is currently enrolled in the MHPE program.

Additionally, she was hand selected to go twice to the Republic of Georgia to develop from the ground up Georgian medical programs to rehabilitate wounded Georgian soldiers, and for the Navy side has been a key collaborator in working groups for valproic acid policy, esketamine policy, and selection and development of the new electronic medical record system for the military, as well as being a subject matter expert for the development of the new Advanced Medical Department Officer Course (AMDOC). She has been the recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal (twice), and Armed Forces Achievement Medal (twice).

Her interests include psychoanalysis (she did a fellowship with Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis) and the treatment of neuropsychiatric consequences of traumatic brain injury.

CDR La Croix currently lives in Maryland with her husband and children. Her interests include fencing, ancient languages, and writing poetry, some of which has been published in literary journals.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

Hand selected by the DoD to go to the Republic of Georgia (twice) In these missions established rehabilitation care for Georgian soldiers injured in the Global War on Terror Including care of amputees, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury Established rehabilitation and case management teams

Snider, T., La Croix, C., Jones, L., Nunnley, T., Colwell, S., Wilde, B., & Baker, W. P. (2007). Effectiveness of osteopathic manipulative treatment for Parkinson disease. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 39(1), 48-50.

Llamas, M., La Croix, C., Williams, E., & Baker, W. P. (2017). Hematological values in captive Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) from Maricopa County, Arizona. Reptiles & Amphibians, 24(3), 187-190

Valproic Acid Monitoring Protocol (NAVY - BUMED 6010.34) Publication Date: 12 August 2019, Status: Active On the working group which wrote the instruction for the Navy testing protocol for Valproic acid after a 20 year old recruit had fulminant liver failure with valproic acid administration

Ketamine/Esketamine Protocol for Retention, United States Navy Publication date United States Navy: 01 June 2022 Proposed policy for retention criteria for Active Duty Sailors requiring ketamine/esketamine administration, complete review of available evidence