Dr. Simon Pincus is the chief of the Defense Health Agency’s Connected Health Branch, Clinical Support Division, Medical Affairs.
Connected Health is the branch of the Defense Health Agency responsible for reviewing, evaluating, coordinating, and integrating the use and development of health technology supporting Military Health System beneficiaries.These technologies include telehealth, mobile apps, mobile web, virtual reality, augmented reality, and wearable devices.
Dr. Pincus comes from the Army’s Regional Health Command-Pacific, where he was responsible for execution of behavioral health programs spanning eight time zones. In that role, he led tri-service behavioral health efforts to optimize the MHS GENESIS electronic health record, represented the Department of Defense at the Veterans Affairs’ EHR-Modernization workshops, and presented at the Annual Cerner Health Conference.
His civilian service includes director, Installation Behavioral Health, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and chief, Behavioral Health, Madigan Army Medical Center (the Army’s largest behavioral health department); chief, Tele-Behavioral Health, Western Region Medical Command; and chief, McChord Mental Health.
Dr. Pincus is the recipient of the Superior and Commander’s Awards for Civilian Service and led teams that received the Madigan Swan Award for Teamwork for two consecutive years.
Dr. Pincus retired from the U.S. Army as a Medical Corps officer in 2008 after 25 years ofservice, having had the opportunity on active duty to lead at many levels.
As director of Psychiatry and the Combined Family Medicine/Psychiatry Programs, Dr. Pincus was responsible for the education of residents at Tripler Army Medical Center. During Operation Joint Endeavor, Dr. Pincus commanded the 84th Combat Stress Control Detachment, the first-ever fully deployed CSC unit.
Dr. Pincus’ military awards include the Order of Military Medical Merit, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (6th Award), the Army Commendation Medal (2nd Award), and the Army Achievement Award (3rd Award), and the Expert Field Medical Badge.
Dr. Pincus received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed his psychiatric residency at Letterman Army Medical Center, and his fellowship training in psychopharmacology at the University of Colorado.
Dr. Pincus has several publications on combat and operational stress. His paper on “The Emotional Cycle of Deployment: A Military Family Perspective” has almost 500 citations and has been widely referenced during redeployment briefings.
Dr. Pincus grew up in New York, Toronto, Canada, and London, England. In England, he successfully completed 11 Ordinary “O” Level examinations from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and London. He remembers his time in England fondly due to Harry Potter and the “Owl” Exams.
