Complete Story
04/06/2022
CDR Dana John Onifer, MD, MA, FAAFP
Lab Chair - Operational Skills Lab
Dana Onifer was born, raised, and escaped from Sayreville, NJ. He enlisted in the Navy in 1989 and became a Hospital Corpsman. He spent 12 years enlisted, including 9 years as a Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman. He was accepted to USUHS and commissioned in 2001.
After graduation from USU in May 2005, LT Onifer completed internship at the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. He then completed the Undersea Medical Officer’s Course in 2006 and was assigned to 3d Recon Bn in Okinawa. Later that year he became the first Navy Medical Officer to attend the Marine Corps Multi-Mission Parachute Course. LT Onifer deployed to Iraq with 3d Recon Bn in April of 2008. While deployed, he participated in the first ever combat employment of the Multi-Mission Parachute System as part of a large-scale deception/disruption operation.
LT Onifer transferred to the Camp Lejeune Family Medicine Residency (CLFMR) in June 2010 and served as Chief Resident in his senior year. Upon completion of residency, LCDR Onifer was assigned as the Senior Medical Officer at the Marine Special Operations School, Marine Special Operations Command. In 2013 was appointed a voting member of the DoD Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care.
In 2015 LCDR Onifer returned to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune as teaching faculty and was selected as the Head of Clinical Investigations, where he was responsible for standing up the first new Navy institutional review board (IRB) in nearly a decade. He facilitated acquisition of over $15 million in grants and over $600,000 for research personnel He was promoted to Commander.
CDR Onifer graduated the Naval War College Command and Staff and Maritime Advanced Warfighting School with distinction in September 2019. After graduation, he was assigned as the Officer in Charge of Fleet Surgical Team EIGHT in Norfolk, VA, leading a 17-person team of health care specialists to support COVID response and Role 2 deployments for the Atlantic Fleet. He also supported COVID response operations for U.S. Fleet Forces and Naval Surface Forces Atlantic.
CDR Onifer is currently assigned to the Intrepid Spirit Concussion Recovery Clinic at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune and will be retiring this year to remain non-deployable with his wife of 30 years, Jewell, their son, Joseph, and multiple companion animals.
CDR Onifer’s awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, The Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 awards), The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2 awards), the Combat Action Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal (3 awards), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with combat device), the South West Asia Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, and the Expert Rifle and Pistol Medals. He has received the Navy Fleet Marine Force Officer Warfare Qualification, the German Troop Duty Proficiency Badge (Gold) and the Australian Army Parachute Badge.
