Our Director
Craig Shriver, MD, FACS, COL, MC, USA (Ret)
COL (Ret) Shriver is the Oliver H. Beahrs Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences (USUHS), and the Director of the Murtha Cancer Center / Research Program (MCC /
MCCRP) at the USUHS and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda. He is
also Director of the congressionally-mandated Clinical Breast Cancer Project (CBCP), a military-civilian
coalition providing excellent clinical care, cutting-edge breast cancer research, and an extensive
biorepository of human breast cancers and tissue that are used by researchers around the world.
COL (Ret) Shriver earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry (Cum Laude) from the Albright College in
Reading, Pennsylvania and an MD (Alpha Omega Alpha) from Temple University School of Medicine. COL
Shriver was commissioned into the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1984. His postgraduate training included
his surgical internship and residency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Shriver was selected
for advanced fellowship training in surgical oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in
New York.
COL (Ret) Shriver’s military education includes completion of the Advanced Officer Course, and
graduating with honors (top 10% of his class) from the Command and General Staff College in June 2000.
His operational assignments include a 2-year tour at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and direct surgical
support of four overseas combat military operations (deployments). He deployed in support of
Operation Just Cause (the liberation of Panama) in 1989, serving as Chief Triage Officer and Surgeon for
the Forward Surgical Team of the 5th MASH. He then went on to become Surgeon of the 307th Medical
Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, providing far-forward surgical support during Operation Desert
Shield and Desert Storm (1990–1991), and earning the coveted Combat Medical Badge. He was
decorated by his command for his direct surgical support of the medical response to the terrorist attack
against the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. In 2007, COL (Ret) Shriver served in eastern Afghanistan
with the 1-91 Cavalry, 173rd Airborne, winning the coveted “Order of the Spur” award from his cavalry
unit for gallant and intrepid service under fire on the front lines of combat in Afghanistan. COL (Ret)
Shriver also was decorated with the Combat Action Badge during that tour, for service under fire in
direct engagement with enemy forces. COL (Ret) Shriver completed his fourth combat tour, second in
Afghanistan and this time in Herat in Western Afghanistan, returning on 20 February 2011.
Other military awards include the Legion of Merit (1OLC), Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Services
Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (2OLC), and the Civilian Outstanding Service Medal.
He was awarded the prestigious “A” Designator Award from the Surgeon General, given to only a select
few military physicians who are the leaders of healthcare in the Army. He was awarded the Order of
Military Medical Merit, given to “civilian or military physicians who meet the highest standard of
“citizen-soldier-physician.” In 2008, COL (Ret) Shriver was promoted to the rank of Professor of Surgery
at the USUHS in Bethesda, Maryland. COL (Ret) Shriver in 2010 was elected into the prestigious
American Surgical Association, the oldest and most premier of all surgical societies in the world. COL
(Ret) Shriver has been an author on three separate articles published in the prestigious New England
Journal of Medicine, and has also been an author on an article in the world’s most premier research
publication, Nature, in October 2012. A nationally-known Surgical Oncologist and as Director of the
MCC, COL (Ret) Shriver in July 2014 served on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Panel as an
Advisor to the FDA, evaluating the controversial surgical technique known as laparoscopic power
morcellation. COL (Ret) Shriver was selected by USUHS as the first Oliver H. Beahrs Professor of Surgery
in April 2015. COL (Ret) Shriver was chosen by DoD Health Affairs to lead the DoD efforts of the federal
Cancer Moonshot in 2016 which resulted in the research programs of APOLLO (Applied Proteogenomic
OrganizationaL Learning and Outcomes) and DoD Framingham. He went on to retire from active duty in
June 2018, after 34 years of active military service. Dr. Shriver now works at the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences with a primary focus on educating our future military medical leaders
and running the DoD’s largest and best-funded cancer research program; he also maintains a clinical
cancer surgery practice at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr.
Shriver was elected into the prestigious Southern Surgical Association in December 2018. Dr. Shriver
also serves through the Defense Health Agency as the Secretary of Defense’s ex-officio representative to
the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), the board that oversees the National Cancer Institute of the
NIH.