Debra Schnelle is an accomplished executive with expertise in medical planning and operations; humanitarian assistance missions; and emergency response with extensive military staff experience. Since retiring from the U.S. Army in 2004, Debra has worked as an independent consultant on a variety of efforts and demonstrated an extraordinary ability to perform research and analyses in support of emerging programs. She is co-owner of Trifecta Solutions and has served as its Chief Operations Officer since 2010.
Ms. Schnelle has supported Navy Medicine for over 8 years, starting with the development of its Operational Workload Reporting system, which monitored the medical workload of deployed medical units in Iraq and Afghanistan and examining the workload reporting of Navy global health engagement missions. She supported the development of the BUMED Theater Engagement publication, “Guiding Principles for the Monitoring and Evaluation of Cooperative Health Engagement Missions,” developed a concept for assessing cooperative health engagement (CHE) missions against Theater Security Cooperation Plan objectives. In 2011, she facilitated a workshop at the Fleet Health Integration Panel meeting, which led to the development of an assessment framework and strategic objectives for CHE missions. Her expertise in these areas led to her being invited to support the Pacific Partnership 2012 mission, deploying on the USNS MERCY for over a month in support of the mission assessment team. The lessons learned from that mission led to a CHE assessment concept that was deployed in the Pacific Partnership 2013, 2014 and 2015 missions.
Other analytical efforts include a report on the challenges of interoperability within the fire services for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and supporting the development of their nation-wide effort to develop intra-state mutual aid agreements. As an independent consultant, she consulted with LMI in their support to the Military Health System Transformation effort in 2004 and worked as the lead exercise designer for the National BioWatch Program in 2005-2007.
Ms. Schnelle is a retired U.S. Army officer who served as the senior medical planner for CBRN defense for the U.S. Army from May 2000 through December 2004. In that role, she served as the U.S. delegate to the NATO NBC Medical Working Group, developed concepts of operation for providing healthcare in an NBC environment, led the effort to develop a “Medical NBC Officer’s BattleBook,” and created an integrated risk management strategy for assessing biological warfare threats.
Prior to her assignment at the Pentagon, Ms. Schnelle served as a Program Manager and Deputy Director at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine and was an Associate Professor of Physics at the United States Military Academy.
Debra Schnelle received her Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s degree in Physics from Florida State University. She is a certified Project Manager (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.