College Allied Health Sciences (CAHS)

The CAHS was chartered by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in October of 2016 after receiving the endorsement of the USU Board of Regents. Congress authorized undergraduate study at USU in section 724 of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed by the President of the United States in December of 2016. The CAHS commenced initial operations on April 24th, 2017. The CAHS exists to serve the ever-increasing education and training requirements that are prerequisite to professional practice within the Military Health System (MHS) of the Department of Defense (DoD). An added benefit of meeting these requirements is that these competencies and credentials translate directly to the civilian sector.

The USU provides oversight of the CAHS consistent with the advisement of the USU Board of Regents (BoR) in the form of governance and administrative support just as it does for the other schools and colleges of the University. The DoD Instruction 5105.45, Subject: Uniformed Services University defines the governance, organization, and management of the USU, allows leadership to strategically identify evolving educational requirements, and clarifies their university’s position within the DoD. The USU provides administrative oversight of the CAHS from its well-established southern office at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) Fort Sam Houston, which is located about a half of a mile from Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) Headquarters within Joint Base San Antonio.

The mission of the USU CAHS is to educate and train highly competent personnel qualified and dedicated to serving the needs of the uniformed services and the United States. The CAHS places a high priority on the special training needs of military medical personnel in contingency, Defense Support to Civil Authorities, combat, and deployment healthcare, as well as peacetime healthcare. The CAHS will fulfill the mission established by the Department of Defense and will meet the standards established by the relevant programmatic accreditation bodies for accreditation of respective educational programs for all degree programs, as required and requested by the Services. In the vision of the USU CAHS Dean, CAHS students train exceptionally well for the mission of the DoD and the CAHS students achieve education for a lifetime of service to the nation long after leaving military service within the communities they call home. The CAHS Motto is: Train for the Mission, Educate for a Lifetime!