Renn Fowler

Renn entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1990 following ROTC and nursing school. She worked in the areas of surgical nursing, maternal/child health, emergency/ambulatory nursing, and hospital supervision with many leadership positions. During her time in the military, she served as a Trauma Nursing Core Course instructor for Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute and traveled to teach trauma nursing skills to reservists on training. After approximately eight years on active duty, Renn moved to Maine and became a reservist.

In 2012, after a nearly six-year break in service, Renn returned to the Army and is a reservist with the 399th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) in Devens, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in Nursing Education from Norwich University and also a master’s from the University of Southern Maine and is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Renn is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and a graduate of the U.S. Army War College Defense Strategy Course and holds military skill identifiers as a Master Resilience Trainer and Defense Strategist. Renn completed an optional year-long residency program at Duke University/VAMC in Durham, NC to gain additional clinical exposure and training. She continues to serve Veterans in her new role within the Puget Sound VA Medical System.

A lifelong learner, Renn completed an Integrated Care Fellowship at the University of Washington as well as her Doctorate at Gonzaga University in 2019 before being deployed to the Middle East as Commander of the Combat & Operational Stress Control Unit (COSC). Retuning to Washington in 2020, Renn spent the next year serving as Commander for COSC as she graduated from the US Army War College in July 2021. Renn will be serving as Brigade Commander of Western Medical Area Readiness Support Group starting in October 2021.

Renn’s goal is to work in the service of the Department of Veterans Affairs or to return to the Active Duty ranks to help fill the critical shortage of mental health providers. She also plans to use her degree in education to help ease the shortage of qualified nurse educators and to train the future health care workforce.