James David Barry had a remarkable career as a Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Emergency Physician, Medical Toxicologist, Soldier, Professor, and Mentor and will be remembered for the love and patience that he devoted to his family, students, and colleagues.
Dave graduated University of California San Diego (UCSD) in 1991 with a Bachelor's in Bio-Physics where he was a member of the rowing team for 4 years in which he captained for 2 years. He met his future wife Megan through the rowing team and it remained a part of their life throughout the years.
Following college, Dave was accepted into the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and enlisted into the Army to begin both his medical and military career. Dave & Megan's first son, Cameron, was born in 1995 during Dave's internship. A few years later, Dave's first deployment was to Bosnia during which he was the only flight surgeon in his Brigade of the 1st Armor Division in 1997. In 1998, Dave & Megan had their 2nd son, Colin. After completing his Emergency Medicine residency at San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (Brooke Army Medical Center [BAMC]) in 2001, he was accepted into a Medical Toxicology Fellowship at UCSD.
Now a Major in the Army, Dave was deployed to Iraq in 2003 with Task Force Ironhorse, 4th Infantry Division and once again served as a flight surgeon supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this time Dave identified and created a successful process to combat a rare disease, leishmaniasis, which later became the theater-wide standard. This act of selfless service would later earn him the Bronze Star, one of the highest awards of accomplishment in the Army. Continuing to support Soldier's from the rear and ever invested in combating the Global War on Terror, in 2005 Dave implemented a toxicology teleconsultation service for the Department of Defense, which he remained the Director of through his Army career.
Continuing his combined Army/Medical career, Dave was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) in 2007 and served as the Assistant Program Director and Research Director at BAMC. While serving as the Research Director of the Department of Defense's largest Emergency Medicine Residency, he led the residents and faculty to the most prolific 3 year publication output in the 20-plus year history of the program (more than 140 articles and textbook chapters since 2006). In 2008, Dave was deployed with Task Force 10, Bagdad, Iraq where he served as the Chief of Emergency Medicine. LTC Barry served at the busiest Combat Support Hospital in the Iraqi Theater of Operations and lead his team to achieve an overall trauma patient survival rate of 96.9% and overall patient survival rate of 98.9%.
After returning from deployment, Dave was offered and accepted a Program Director position in Portsmouth, Virginia at a Navy Hospital (Naval Medical Center Portsmouth [NMCP]). While serving as the Program Director for one of the top 10 of 145 programs nationally, Dave continued to be a national leader in both the civilian and military emergency medicine/toxicology communities. Always a proponent for bettering the leaders of tomorrow, Dave orchestrated multiple new rotations (Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit, Anesthesia, and Emergency Medicine) at high volume civilian medical centers to maximize resident exposure to acuity critical care and airway management challenges.
In 2013, Dave was promoted to Colonel (COL) and continued to work to turn his program into the premier military training platform in would become, mentoring hundreds of students and residents in the process. In 2014, COL Barry was deployed a final time, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom with a Joint Special Operations Task Force. During this time he served as the Officer-in-Charge and Senior Medical Provider where he personally administered emergency trauma care to both Task Force personnel and local nationals alike.
Returning in 2014, Dave continued to exemplify excellence at the highest level, maintaining a 100% written and oral board pass rate for every graduate under his direction. He served as a senior leader at the command and national levels through the following positions: Gradual Medical Education Committee, Medical Education Pillar Champion, member of four national Emergency Medicine committees, and a member of the editorial board for 7 peer-review journals. In his final Officer Evaluation Report from the Army, he was recommended for "Multi-Star Potential" and described as "a model of military officership and medical leadership.. ..[He] represented military medicine in an exemplary fashion at the highest national levels, creating a culture which thrived under his inspirational leadership style focused on constant preparation, focused execution, and continuous evaluation."
Retiring from the Army in 2016, Dave & Megan moved to Long Beach where they bought a historic house near the beach and worked to turn into a beautiful home. Not ready to retire, he began working at the Long Beach VA Medical Center as the Assistant Chief of Emergency Medicine, wanting to continue to serve the underserved, despite having offers from numerous esteemed hospitals. He also accepted a Professor position in the Department of Emergency Medicine at University of California, Irvine, continuing to teach the next generation of healers. In 2020, he was elected to the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) Board and was the co-editor for MyEMCert.
Jon Auten, a current Navy Emergency Medicine Program Director wrote, "I can say for my part that Dave was so incredibly influential to me as a young academic physician, but more important.. he helped me as a young father. He impressed on me early on as an academic faculty that the work was important, but it was meaningless if it came at the cost of my family. He was honest in the fact that pursuit of balance was imperfect, but more important than anything else that I would do during the early part of my career. I'm incredibly grateful for him and devastated by his loss."
We will all miss Dave.
