DAV Magazine — January/February 2018
Secretary Shulkin goes to Harvard
With help from Charitable Service Trust, DAV’s Distinguished Lecture Series continues to bring big names to the Ivy League
Since its inception in 2014, the DAV Distinguished Speaker Series at Harvard Law School has hosted various distinguished guests in the veterans sphere, including former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald; former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus; and Judge Robert Russell, founder of the nation’s first Veterans Treatment Court in Buffalo, N.Y. Now, the series has another national leader to add to its list of alumni: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David J. Shulkin.
In November, Shulkin delivered the 2017 DAV Distinguished Lecture at the Ivy League campus, addressing critical issues facing our nation’s veterans and engaging in conversation with the local community. His presentation focused on the VA’s efforts to increase service and accountability at the department since he took over in February 2017.
“I have made clear that the VA will hold employees accountable when the facts demonstrate that they have failed to live up to the high standards taxpayers expect from us,” Shulkin said before touting the establishment of the VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which helps protect employees who expose problems at the department.
He noted that the VA recently became the first federal agency to post information on employee disciplinary actions online. It also posts weekly updates that report wait times for every one of the department’s 168 medical centers across the country.
“No other health system in the country has done anything like that, and no one is as transparent as we are,” Shulkin declared.
He also stressed the VA’s efforts addressing his No. 1 clinical priority as secretary: combating veteran suicide.
“Nothing is more important to me than making sure that we don’t lose any veterans to suicide,” Shulkin said. “Twenty veterans a day dying by suicide should be unacceptable to all of us. This is a national public health crisis, and it requires solutions that not only VA will work on but all of government.”
Born from a DAV Charitable Service Trust grant to Harvard’s Veterans Legal Clinic in 2014, the lecture series brings high-profile leaders to the university to raise awareness of veterans’ needs and to speak on public policies that impact veterans.
“By providing core funding to the Harvard Veterans Law Program, the Trust continues its great tradition of finding diverse and innovative opportunities to put its resources to work for veterans,” said Trust President Richard E. Marbes.
“The DAV Distinguished Speaker Series, and DAV’s partnership with Harvard Law School at large, is a tremendous way for our organization to highlight the critical issues facing our nation’s veterans,” said National Adjutant Marc Burgess. “We look forward to sponsoring more of these enlightening lectures in the future.”
Since its inception in 2014, the DAV Distinguished Speaker Series at Harvard Law School has hosted various distinguished guests in the veterans sphere, including former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald; former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus; and Judge Robert Russell, founder of the nation’s first Veterans Treatment Court in Buffalo, N.Y. Now, the series has another national leader to add to its list of alumni: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David J. Shulkin.
In November, Shulkin delivered the 2017 DAV Distinguished Lecture at the Ivy League campus, addressing critical issues facing our nation’s veterans and engaging in conversation with the local community. His presentation focused on the VA’s efforts to increase service and accountability at the department since he took over in February 2017.
“I have made clear that the VA will hold employees accountable when the facts demonstrate that they have failed to live up to the high standards taxpayers expect from us,” Shulkin said before touting the establishment of the VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which helps protect employees who expose problems at the department.
He noted that the VA recently became the first federal agency to post information on employee disciplinary actions online. It also posts weekly updates that report wait times for every one of the department’s 168 medical centers across the country.
“No other health system in the country has done anything like that, and no one is as transparent as we are,” Shulkin declared.
He also stressed the VA’s efforts addressing his No. 1 clinical priority as secretary: combating veteran suicide.
“Nothing is more important to me than making sure that we don’t lose any veterans to suicide,” Shulkin said. “Twenty veterans a day dying by suicide should be unacceptable to all of us. This is a national public health crisis, and it requires solutions that not only VA will work on but all of government.”
Born from a DAV Charitable Service Trust grant to Harvard’s Veterans Legal Clinic in 2014, the lecture series brings high-profile leaders to the university to raise awareness of veterans’ needs and to speak on public policies that impact veterans.
“By providing core funding to the Harvard Veterans Law Program, the Trust continues its great tradition of finding diverse and innovative opportunities to put its resources to work for veterans,” said Trust President Richard E. Marbes.
“The DAV Distinguished Speaker Series, and DAV’s partnership with Harvard Law School at large, is a tremendous way for our organization to highlight the critical issues facing our nation’s veterans,” said National Adjutant Marc Burgess. “We look forward to sponsoring more of these enlightening lectures in the future.”
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