Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, MD

Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, MD, MBA, FACS, is a board-certified trauma surgeon and retired vice admiral of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. Bono was the first female three-star admiral in the medical field in the history of the U.S. Navy and the first Asian American woman promoted to vice admiral. She served more than 30 years as a Navy officer.

Bono received her medical degree from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, completed her surgical internship and residency at Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, and performed a trauma and critical care fellowship at Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine.

Bono’s military career includes service as director of the Defense Health Agency and a key role in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head of casualty receiving, Fleet Hospital Five in Saudi Arabia. She held leadership positions within the Department of Defense, including command surgeon for U.S. Pacific Command, chief of staff for TRICARE, and commanding officer of Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida. As CEO and director of the Defense Health Agency, Bono led a joint, integrated combat support agency that enabled all branches of the U.S. military to provide health care services to combatant commands, integrating a $50 billion worldwide health care enterprise composed of 50 hospitals and 300 clinical facilities serving 9.5 million military beneficiaries. She also contributed to the Department of Defense’s deployment of the electronic health record system and the development of the largest federated health system with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Bono launched the Military Health Corps’ Female Physicians Leadership Course to encourage diversity, retain women physicians, and provide military women with skills for senior leadership roles. The course is now an annual, three-day program training more than 100 women military physicians each year. Her commitment to public health extends beyond the armed forces; Bono was appointed by the governor of Washington to lead the state health system’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. She later served as chief health officer for Viking Cruises, establishing a C-suite model that restarted and sustained the cruise line during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bono is the CEO of Medical iSight, a 3D imaging and guidance software company for intra-procedural navigational guidance.

Bono’s honors include the Bob Dole World War II Foundation Leadership Award, the American College of Surgeons Mary Edwards Walker Inspiring Women in Surgery Award, the Federal IT Women in Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award, and recognition among Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executive Leaders, 50 Most Influential Healthcare Physician Executives and Leaders, and 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. Her military decorations include a Defense Superior Service Medal, three Legion of Merit Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals. Bono is a senior fellow with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and a visiting scholar of the University of Texas Value Institute. She is recognized for her expertise in military medicine, health care leadership, trauma surgery, and health system innovation.