VA Healthcare in the 21st Century – Caring for our Nation’s Most Deserving CitizensPatrick J. Kelly, Captain, US Navy (retired) became the Director of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System on June 16, 2013. Prior to that appointment he was the Director of the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System beginning July 5, 2011. Mr. Kelly received his BA degree in 1979 from Creighton University, Omaha, NE. He received a Master of Public Health Degree in 1982 from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He was commissioned a Lieutenant (junior grade) in 1983.
Following graduation from Officer Indoctrination School, he was assigned as the Medical Administrative Officer, Branch Medical Clinic, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA. In August 1985 he transferred to Naval Dental Center, Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines as Fiscal and Supply Officer. He was ordered to Naval Hospital Oak Harbor, WA in 1987 and served as the Fiscal and Supply Officer until April 1990 when he transferred to the 3d Medical Battalion, Okinawa, Japan where he served as the Battalion Executive Officer.
In 1993 he matriculated at the Naval War College, Newport, RI, receiving a Masters in Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He then served with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), Washington, DC as a Senior Policy Analyst. He subsequently was Director for Administration, Naval Hospital, Pensacola, FL from June 1997 – May 2000.
He served one year as the Senior Health Care Administration Assignment Officer, Bureau of Navy Personnel, Millington, TN before reporting to Bremerton, WA where he served as Executive Officer of the Naval Hospital and Commanding Officer of the Fleet Hospital. He was Commanding Officer of Fleet Hospital Eight, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rota, Spain from February – July 2003 and Naval Health Care New England from July 2004 – August 2005. He was then ordered to the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, DC as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations from September 2005 – July 2007. He was the Chief of Staff, Navy Medicine West from July 2007 – June 2011, when he retired from the Navy.
Mr. Kelly is married and has two sons.