USARIEM Leadership
Commander
Col. Sharon Rosser
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
Col. Sharon Rosser is the 25th Commander of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
Rosser is from Colton, South Dakota. She began her military career with the South Dakota Army National Guard as a combat medic. Within a year, she transitioned to active-duty Army and continued her enlisted career as a Hospital Food Service Specialist and later a Respiratory Therapist reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Rosser attended the Interservice Physician Assistant Program, graduating in 2001 as a Second Lieutenant with a Bachelor of Science Degree from University of Nebraska. She also holds a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from UNMC and a Doctor of Science in PA Studies with a focus in Emergency Medicine from Baylor University in 2007. She is the first military physician assistant to complete a one-year fellowship in Emergency Medicine/Critical Care Point of Care Ultrasound from 2012 to 2013 at Brooke Army Medical Center. Rosser is a graduate of Command and General Staff College – Intermediate Level Education and graduated from the Army War College in July 2023 with a Masters in Strategic Studies.
Rosser has served in various positions to include Battalion/Brigade PA; Emergency Medicine PA; EMPA Residency Director; Primary Emergency Medicine and Ultrasound Faculty, IPAP; Executive Officer and Director of Hospital Based Programs for the Medical Center of Excellence; Director of Comprehensive Pain Management, Office of The Surgeon General, and Secretary of the General Staff, Office of the Surgeon General. In her last assignment, she served as the Deputy Commander for the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Her awards and decorations include Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with 2 OLCs, Army Commendation Medal with 6 OLCs, the Combat Medical Badge, and the Expert Field Medical Badge. Her skill identifiers include Medical Proficiency (9A), Instructor (5K), Strategist (6Z), and Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (M2). She is a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit and an AMEDD Iron Major.
Dr. Karl E. Friedl
Senior Research Scientist Performance Physiology
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
Dr. Karl E. Friedl received B.A. (1976) and M.A. (1979) degrees in zoology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Ph.D. degree in biology (1984) through the Institute of Environmental Stress in the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Friedl retired from thirty years of active duty service in the Army in 2013, where he had last served as Director of the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Previously, he served as Commander, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM); Director, Army Operational Medicine Research Program; Principal Investigator, USARIEM; and Chief of Physiology and Biostatistics Service, Madigan Army Medical Center.
Dr. Friedl's research has been focused on extending limits of human physiological performance. He has made specific contributions in the areas of endocrine regulation in semi starvation, physiological effects of anabolic steroids, body composition methods and standards, physiological monitoring, and metrics of research return on investment. He has published nearly 200 original articles, book chapters, technical reports, and commentaries, and made over 250 scientific presentations at national and international meetings. He is a co-inventor on an Army patent for a system for remote neuropsychological assessment. He has served as chair of numerous NATO and Army panels and committees, and served on program review committees for NASA, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the Wellcome Trust, and university thesis committees in Iceland, Italy, France and Finland. During his Army research management assignments Friedl was responsible for administration of $3.5 B in appropriated RDT&E funds and organized major initiatives such as the Defense Women's Health Research Program (DWHRP), Technologies for Metabolic Monitoring (TMM), Bone Health and Military Medical Readiness (BHMMR), Gulf War Illnesses research program (GWIRP), and the Army's Parkinson's research program (NETRP).
Dr. Friedl is a Professor (adjunct) in the Department of Neurology at University of California, San Francisco. He also currently serves as Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
This year he was recognized with a Professional Career Achievement Award from the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He has been recognized with national awards from both the Parkinson's Action Network (Udall Award) and the Alzheimer's Association (Ronald and Nancy Reagan Award) for his advocacy of "dual use" research that has helped to advance research for the Soldiers as well as serving the needs of neurodegenerative disease patients. He has also received a Founder's Award from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the Diabetes Research Leadership Award from the Diabetes Technology Society, the Society of Armed Forces Medical Laboratory Scientists (SAFMLS) Outstanding Research and Development Scientist Award, the French National Order of Merit (Chevalier), the Legion of Merit (2nd Oakleaf Cluster), and the Order of Military Medical Merit.