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By Ashley Craig, Navy Office of Community Outreach
MILLINGTON, Tenn. – A Loma Linda University graduate serves as the executive officer at U.S. Navy Medicine Training and Readiness Command (U.S. NMRTC) Sigonella, in Italy, a role similar to a chief operations officer.
Capt. Michael Mercado, a native of Stockton, California, assumed the executive officer role at U.S. NMRTC Sigonella/U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella in July 2023 as part of a competitively selected group of medical professionals with varying clinical, administrative and operational backgrounds assigned to manage the operations of Navy military treatment facilities around the world.
Mercado earned a Doctor of Medicine from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 2004 and joined the Navy through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Mercado graduated with a residency in Family Medicine from Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in 2007.
“I am humbled to support a high-performing team of professionals who diligently sustain clinical operations of our medical facilities in Sigonella, Sicily; Souda Bay, Crete; and the Kingdom of Bahrain,” said Mercado. “Truly an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Mercado has served in many teaching and leadership roles throughout his 20-year Navy career. Most recently, Mercado served at the Navy Bureau of Medicine & Surgery as director of Force Medical Readiness from 2021 to 2023, overseeing programs and policies that optimize the medical readiness and assignability for more than 600,000 active and reserve component members and their families.
“Though I cherish being a uniformed family physician, being selected to this senior leadership role enables me to elevate the quality, safety and overall experience of our very deserving patients in ways that I could never accomplish in the exam room,” said Mercado. “While I appreciate the strategic influence I bring into my current executive officer role, I especially enjoy the moments when I walk around the command and I get to inspire, motivate and connect with junior sailors on a personal level. Those moments are what keeps me in Navy Medicine.”
With 90% of global commerce traveling by sea and access to the internet relying on the security of undersea fiber optic cables, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity of the United States is directly linked to recruiting and retaining talented people from across the rich fabric of America.
Mercado serves a Navy that operates far forward, around the world and around the clock, promoting the nation’s prosperity and security.
“We will earn and reinforce the trust and confidence of the American people every day,” said Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations. “Together we will deliver the Navy the nation needs.”
U.S. NMRTC Sigonella is a community hospital located in the heart of the Mediterranean in Sicily, Italy. Comprised of a local satellite clinic and two branch health clinics located in Bahrain and Souda Bay, U.S. NMRTC Sigonella’s staff of 387 serves approximately 8,500 active duty, family members, NATO members, retirees and other beneficiaries based on international collaborations and status of forces agreements.
