Karen Flaherty

Rear Admiral Karen Ann Flaherty assumed duties as the Deputy Surgeon General of Navy Medicine at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery as of August 6, 2010. Flaherty served as the 22nd Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps as well as the Deputy Chief, Wounded, Ill, and Injured at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from 2009 to 2010.

Early life Flaherty is a native of Winsted, Connecticut and graduated from the Gilbert School there in 1970. She joined the United States Navy as a Nurse Corps Candidate in July 1973. She graduated from Skidmore College and attended Officer Indoctrination School at Newport, R.I., in August 1974. and retired from the Navy in January 2012.

Education Flaherty received her Masters of Science in Nursing Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and has held senior executive leadership positions at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Awards Flaherty is authorized to wear the Legion of Merit (two awards), Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Citation (two awards), National Defense Service Medal (three awards), Humanitarian Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Liberation Medals.

Personal Flaherty is married to Steve Oxler, a physician specializing in emergency medicine. They have one daughter, Lizzy Oxler.