Dr. Lewis’ last position in his three decade long military career was as the Principal Investigator, Congressionally-mandated Longitudinal Study of TBI in OIF/OEF, where he brought his epidemiologic expertise to design ways to evaluate long term outcomes. Dr. Lewis also served as the Public Health expert for the Afghanistan National Army Health System; the DoD Nutritional Supplement Committee; and was the DoD’s subject matter expert on the use of omega-3 nutritional therapy for the prevention and treatment of head trauma.
Dr. Lewis was the DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance Program Director at the AFRIMS Research Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand, where he established, developed, and coordinated a multi-million dollar programs across eight countries in Asia with numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations. Dr. Lewis led investigations into large disease outbreaks and was at ground zero for SARS and Avian Influenza. He also conceived and conducted several human and animal protocols in support the military’s Diarrhea Vaccine Program and instituted strategic plans for the Institute’s Informatics (IT), Research Support Section, and Joint Clinical Research Center at the world famous Bumrungrad Hospital.
At Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Dr. Lewis created and developed the ESSENCE program, the nation’s first and largest Syndrome-based Disease Outbreak Recognition System that supports the Military Health System, is the foundation for the National Bio-Sense Program, and surveillance programs at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, all state health departments, and many health departments around the world. His pioneering work started an entirely new field of epidemiology and The International Society for Disease Surveillance.