Health Care Opportunities

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Medical Service Corps (Specialties)

Imagine becoming a biochemist developing lifesaving vaccines. Or an administrator helping manage over $9 billion in resources.

Now imagine providing leadership and expertise to support your country. And caring for the men and women fighting to defend it from a post within the laboratories of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Welcome to the endless opportunities of the Medical Service Corps.

The Medical Service Corps (MSC) is the most highly diversified Corps within Navy medicine. It’s clinical care specialists working with cutting-edge technology. It’s scientists making radical breakthroughs in research and development, free of financial burdens. It’s administrators literally changing the way the health-care system works.

As a Navy Officer in the MSC, you have your choice of over 22 different specialties — some working directly with patients, some behind the scenes. And, with more than 250 Navy and medical facilities around the globe, you could serve anywhere from aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean to a Navy hospital in Japan.

Advance your medical career in ways you could never realize in the private sector with continuing, hands-on training and some of the most advanced technology in the world. And do it with all the financial and lifestyle benefits only the Navy has to offer.

Financial and Educational Benefits

Wherever you are in your medical career, the Navy can help ease the financial burdens and advance your career with generous scholarships, financial assistance and continuing education programs.

  • are you a student?
    Up to $185,000 for graduate school Imagine leaving graduate school without the mountain of debt. The Navy Health Services Collegiate Program offers up to $185,000 in financial assistance while you finish graduate school.

    • That includes a monthly salary and housing allowance from $2,940 to $5,150 for up to 36 months (housing allowance may vary depending upon location) – plus other benefits. Note that this specific offer is exclusive to the Navy and not available in other military service branches.

      All you have to do is join the Navy for a specified time (depending on the program you enter). This year, the fields that are offered include Health Care Administration, Physiology, Entomology, Industrial Hygiene, Audiology, Pharmacy and Podiatry.

      100% of tuition coverage for graduate school

      Attention optometrists and physician assistants: This program is for you! With the Navy Health Professions Scholarship Program, optometry and physician assistant students can get 100% tuition coverage for graduate school. You’ll get a monthly stipend of $1,605 to cover living expenses for up to four years.

  • are you a working professional?
    UP TO $114,900 TO REPAY STUDENT LOANS There's no reason to be overwhelmed by the cost of your education. As an Active Duty Officer in the Medical Service Corps, you can get up to $114,900 to repay your graduate school loans by applying to receive $38,300 each year for up to three years. The total amount you can earn depends upon your specialty.

    • To become eligible for the Health Professions Loan Repayment Program, you must serve as an Active Duty Medical Service Corps Officer for each year you receive the loan payment, with a minimum three-year service obligation.

Talk to your recruiter about these or any Navy opportunities that interest you.

Medical Service Corps Specialties

Health Care Administration

In the Navy, you can gain experience managing and running systems that are improving the way the business of health care operates. You could be evaluating the medical and humanitarian needs after a tsunami hits the coast of Thailand. Or maybe you’ll be in charge of overseeing the proper construction of a new medical facility at an air base in Europe.

Once on Active Duty, Health Care Administration offers specialized training in these areas:

  • Education and Training Management
  • Financial Management
  • Fleet Marine Force
  • General Health Care Administration
  • Health Care Facilities Planning
  • Information Management
  • Manpower Systems Analysis
  • Medical Logistics Management
  • Operations Research
  • Patient Administration
  • Plans, Operations and Medical Intelligence
Health Care Sciences

Microbiology. Aerospace Physiology. Radiation Health. Health Care Science covers everything from the study of the thermal stress and magnetic force of a submarine’s nuclear reactor to correlating the aerodynamics of the new F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Specialties found within the Health Care Sciences field include:

Clinical Care Providers

As a Clinical Care Provider, you may find yourself prescribing contact lenses to the Admiral as an optometrist or managing the buying, storing and distribution of drugs and medicines as a pharmacist.

Other specialties found within the Clinical Care Providers field include:

The Navy Medical Service Corps

Breakthrough research unencumbered by the scramble for funding. Networking with some of the best minds in the world. Managing systems on a scale rarely found in the private sector. The luxury of focusing all your energy on excelling in a distinct specialty.

A career in the Medical Service Corps offers many possibilities. Health Care Sciences. Clinical Care. Administration. But no matter which road you choose, you’ll be given one important opportunity: making a difference and leaving your mark.

Questions? Need more information? To talk to a Navy representative or to request our informative video, please fill out our information request form. We look forward to hearing from you!

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