USU Alumnus Named Navy Psychologist of the Year for a Second Time, Recognizing Outstanding Service

USU School of Medicine graduate Lt. Cmdr. Marcus VanSickle was selected by Navy Medicine as Senior Psychologist of the year for 2024. VanSickle, who received his PhD in Clinical Psychology at USU in 2016, was also selected as Navy Junior Psychologist of the Year in 2018.

USU School of Medicine graduate Lt. Cmdr. Marcus VanSickle was selected by Navy Medicine as Senior Psychologist of the year for 2024. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Cmdr. Marcus VanSickle)

December 17, 2024 by Claire Pak

"Deja vu all over again" might be the best way to describe the recent honor awarded to Uniformed Services University (USU) School of Medicine graduate Lt. Cmdr. Marcus VanSickle.

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Lt. Cmdr. Marcus VanSickle (Photo courtesy of Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle)

VanSickle was recently named U.S. Navy Senior Psychologist of the Year for 2024. The recognition marks the second time in his career that he has been selected for the accolade-six years earlier, VanSickle was selected as the Navy's Junior Psychologist of the Year. The distinction reflects VanSickle's continued commitment to both his Service and his field, which has been shaped by an impressive career path that began long before he became a Navy psychologist. In fact, his journey into psychology started with a very different path as a Marine Corps enlisted member.

"I came in 13 days after 9/11," he said. Although he had originally planned to serve in the Reserves, he changed his contract to active duty on September 11, 2001. "I was in the recruiter's office with a friend when the planes hit the towers," he recalls, "and I shipped out two weeks later." VanSickle initially entered the Marine Corps as an infantryman, then switched to administration, and later obtained a secondary military occupational specialty as an instructor for the Marine Corps martial arts program.

When VanSickle was later selected for the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP), he enrolled at the University of Illinois, Chicago, becoming the first member of his family to attend college. There, he majored in psychology, taking pre-clinical courses and gaining experience in graduate labs. He completed Marine Corps Officer Candidate School during the summer of his junior year. While his initial plan was to commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, he soon discovered USU's Ph.D. program in psychology and decided to apply. Upon acceptance to USU, he switched services and commissioned as a Navy ensign after graduation.

Matriculating at USU "was a process," he recalls, explaining that military applicants to USU programs must receive permission from their commanders. VanSickle also had to obtain a conditional release from the Marine Corps before applying to attend USU. The learning curve was steep for the brand-new Navy officer and graduate student. "After 10 years enlisted in the Marine Corps, I was learning how to be in the Navy, how to be an officer, and how to be a graduate student all at once." The military-academic environment at USU eased the adjustment, and VanSickle found a niche in the lab of Dr. Marjan Holloway, focusing on military suicide prevention research.

As an officer and care provider, VanSickle says, "you have a lot of identities" that must all work together. VanSickle described developing and learning to balance these while at USU, with its unique classroom, research, and externship opportunities. In example, VanSickle described completing an externship with the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG). "At MCESG," he says, "I was in a Marine environment, wearing a Navy nametape, and people expected me to act like a psychologist." He highlighted this as a critical developmental period when mentorship from senior military psychology leaders helped him better grasp the multiple identities inherent to military psychology. He also rotated through the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Naval Academy, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Fort Belvoir, and the Behavioral Center of Greater Washington, where he gained additional practice experience.

In each of these roles, VanSickle drew on every aspect of his training - academic, clinical, and military.

"I can't think of any other place that would have prepared me for being in all of these worlds at once," VanSickle says of USU. The academic preparation and hands-on clinical training in a military environment helped him to "weave together the art and the science" of military psychology.

Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle worked in the lab of Dr. Marjan Holloway (left), focusing on military suicide prevention research. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle)

Military cultural competence, he explains, is part of the "art," and this includes knowing that shared military background can sometimes be a "double-edged sword." He emphasizes that military psychologists must understand that service encompasses a broad range of experiences, and that everyone's experience is different. "We might have been in Iraq the same year," he says, "but that does not mean that we had the same year in Iraq." As a uniformed psychologist, he says he must remember that if a service member is struggling with military life and culture, "then I might be the last person they want to talk to." It's also important to recognize that in the military, it's easy to make assumptions based on appearance. "We wear our resumes on our uniforms," he says, which makes it hard to appear as a "blank slate" to a new patient. Overall, though, he describes shared military experience as a "net benefit" for himself and his patients.

Following assignments at Fort Belvoir and Guantanamo Bay ("I learned that 'joint' is spelled A-R-M-Y," he jokes), VanSickle was sent to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to establish the base's first embedded mental health unit for the surface fleet. Other than two years "bouncing around on ships" and learning surface warfare culture, VanSickle describes Pearl Harbor as his first "real Navy" experience, and also his first opportunity to have system-level impact by identifying issues and working leadership to address those issues and improve the culture. He also led a shipboard pilot of the Rational-Thinking, Emotion Regulation, and Problem-Solving (REPS) application developed by the Holloway laboratory, and recruited subjects for suicide prevention studies through the VA.

"I still worked with patients, at the micro level," says VanSickle, "but it was good to see the connection and the progression from micro to macro level intervention."

From serving as an enlisted member of the Marine Corps to commissioning as a Navy officer and becoming a psychologist, VanSickle's career has continued to branch off in different directions. After receiving a Master's degree in psychopharmacology, he became one of the Navy's few prescribing psychologists. A two-year fellowship in forensics then led to "a whole new identity" as an expert witness in courts-martial and a consultant supporting competency evaluations. For the last year and a half, VanSickle has served as the Command Psychologist at Marine Cyberspace Command, supporting Marines, Commands, and Military Operations.

"I've been very fortunate to have a career that is a buffet of things I really like," he says. Each role and accomplishment has prepared him for the next, although the progression is not always smooth or linear. "The first time I stood up a program, I had no idea what I was doing - we don't have graduate courses on how to set up information systems, hire a staff, manage facility requirements - and I also learned the hard way what happens when you don't remember to request a budget," he says, laughing. With a "fail, learn, reattack" approach, he learned from each experience, drawing on the expertise of those around him, and leveraging relationships dating back to his graduate school days to build teams and secure resources, a process he describes as "symbiotic."

With his recently announced faculty appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, VanSickle comes full circle at USU, where he will help to educate and develop a new generation of military psychologists.

VanSickle describes starting graduate school as "trial by fire." During his admissions interview, a faculty member noted his C in undergraduate chemistry, and questioned his ability to succeed in graduate school. "I needed that reality check," he said, and he began his studies determined to excel and open to seeking help. "In graduate school, office hours are not optional," he says.

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Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle became the first member of his family to attend college, and is now being named Navy Psychologist of the Year for a second time. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle)

Besides asking for help, VanSickle has additional advice for students considering graduate study in military medicine or psychology. "Remember that it's supposed to be hard!" he says. As a mentor to several current students, he urges them to "do the hard stuff now - 20 years from now, a patient will count on your hard work as a student." He also advises students and young officers to "broaden the aperture" on work-life balance, reminding them to strive for balance over the course of their careers, not necessarily in 8-hour increments. Finally, he emphasizes the importance of mentors at every career stage, crediting his own mentors for his growth and success.

About his selection as Navy Senior Psychologist of the Year, he writes, "It was an honor to be selected. Much is owed to my time at USU for fostering/encouraging my transformation from Marine to Psychologist - for which I will always be grateful."

"Lt. Cmdr. VanSickle's recognition as the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery's Senior Psychologist of the Year, following his earlier honor as Junior Psychologist of the Year, highlights not only his consistent dedication to excellence but also his commitment to service and leadership," said Dr. Tracy Sbrocco, USU medical and clinical psychology department chair. "We are immensely proud to count Dr. VanSickle among our distinguished alumni and faculty. We are delighted to see him receive this well-deserved recognition, and we look forward to celebrating more of his achievements in the future!"

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