Naval Hospital changes command

Updated at 12:01 p.m.

After two years at the helm of the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, Navy Capt. Gerard Cox handed off his post to incoming commander Capt. Daniel Zinder with a crisp salute at an elaborate change-of-command ceremony aboard Camp Lejeune.

Zinder, who will be the hospital’s 31st commanding officer, comes to the office from the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md., where he spent two years as deputy commander. Zinder entered the Navy while attending the University of Southern California School of Medicine, where he graduated in 1988. He has served with a number of large Marine bases, including a position as battalion surgeon for 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan, in 1989, and force surgeon aboard Camp Pendleton in 2005. During his Pendleton tour, he spent a year deployed with troops in Al Anbar, Iraq.

Cox completed his second tour in this region with the ceremonial handoff, having served with 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing aboard the Cherry Point Air station as his first duty assignment in 1985. He will assume the post of force surgeon for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain when he leaves Lejeune. His past assignments include Navy physician to the White House in 1999 and executive officer for U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa in 2006.

Cox said that on his agenda Friday was “a long list of thank yous” to those he’d served with at the hospital and his supportive family, many of whom attended the ceremony at the Paradise Point Officers Club.

“It’s gone very quickly,” Cox said. “I feel like we have a lot to look back on, a lot of accomplishments.”

Earlier this month, Cox spoke with the Daily News about the rigors and challenges of growth and maintaining force readiness at the hospital since 2008, including a population boom that brought 20,000 new troops and family members to the immediate region, forward-deploying troops and staff in support of two wars, managing controversy over mental healthcare practices and anticipating a massive hospital renovation project, to begin in coming months.

Cox said Zinder would inherit many of the same challenges that he has faced in the last two years but said he believes the new commander is up to the challenge.

As he prepares to move overseas, Cox said the people were what made the transition bittersweet.

“I’m going to miss the people of North Carolina,” he said. “This is a wonderful place.”

Zinder said that, coming in, people were his priority.

“Leading the people is the thing the Navy does especially well, and the Navy and Marine Corps in general,” he said.

When people are prioritized and given the support they need, he said, “everything flows.”

Zinder said his work at Bethesda, where troops are first treated, led well into his new work at Camp Lejeune, where he will help to provide long-term care for troops and help get them back in the fight.

After two years at the helm of the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, Navy Capt. Gerard Cox handed off his post to incoming commander Capt. Daniel Zinder with a crisp salute at an elaborate change-of-command ceremony aboard Camp Lejeune.

Zinder, who will be the hospital’s 31st commanding officer, comes to the office from the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md., where he spent two years as deputy commander. Zinder entered the Navy while attending the University of Southern California School of Medicine, where he graduated in 1988. He has served with a number of large Marine bases, including a position as battalion surgeon for 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan, in 1989, and force surgeon aboard Camp Pendleton in 2005. During his Pendleton tour, he spent a year deployed with troops in Al Anbar, Iraq.

Cox completed his second tour in this region with the ceremonial handoff, having served with 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing aboard the Cherry Point Air station as his first duty assignment in 1985. He will assume the post of force surgeon for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain when he leaves Lejeune. His past assignments include Navy physician to the White House in 1999 and executive officer for U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa in 2006.

Cox said that on his agenda Friday was “a long list of thank yous” to those he’d served with at the hospital and his supportive family, many of whom attended the ceremony at the Paradise Point Officers Club.

“It’s gone very quickly,” Cox said. “I feel like we have a lot to look back on, a lot of accomplishments.”

For the full article, see Saturday's edition of The Daily News.