Brigadier General (Dr.) Donald N. Vivian is director of medical inspection, Headquarters Air Force Inspection and Safety Center, Norton Air Force Base, Calif. The directorate is responsible for inspecting all U.S. Air Force medical facilities worldwide.
General Vivian was born in 1922, in Schenectady N.Y., where he graduated from high school and attended Union College. He received his doctor of medicine degree at Boston University Medical School in 1946 and his master of surgery degree at the University of Minnesota in 1953.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 1943 and received his commission as a medical officer in the Army Air Corps in 1946, after graduating from medical school. From July 1947 to June 1950, General Vivian served as a general medical officer at Eglin Field, Fla. He then was assigned as flight surgeon of the 301st Medical Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. In January 1951 he attended the Mayo Foundation Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he was a surgical fellow for three years.
In May 1954 he was transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and served as general surgeon at the 2750th USAF Hospital. In January 1955 he became base surgeon at the 2793rd USAF Hospital at McClellan Air Force Base, Calif. In July 1957 General Vivian was transferred to Ernest Harmon Air Base, Newfoundland, where he commanded the 4981st USAF Hospital and later the 867th Medical Group.
General Vivian returned to the United States in July 1960 to attend the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. In June 1961 he was assigned as deputy surgeon in the Office of the Surgeon, Second Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base, La. A year later he became commander of the 815th Medical Group at Forbes Air Force Base, Kan., and in 1965 was transferred to Homestead Air Force Base, Fla., as commander of the 823rd Medical Group.
He again went overseas in July 1967 and commanded the hospital at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan He returned to the United States in July 1970 and assumed command of the medical center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. During this assignment he studied the fundamentals of electronic data processing and time sharing. In April 1972 General Vivian became command surgeon for Air Force Logistics Command with headquarters of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
General Vivian became command surgeon, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in April 1975 and directed all medical, dental and veterinary activities in USAFE. He became director of medical inspection, Air Force Inspection and Safety Center, Norton Air Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 23, 1978.
His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon. He holds the aeronautical rating of chief flight surgeon.
General Vivian is a member of the American Medical Association, Society of Air Force Flight Surgeons, Interagency Institute for Federal Hospital Administrators, Alumni Association of the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, American College of Hospital Administrators, and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has published articles in the American Journal of Surgery, Nihon University Journal of Medicine, Journal of Industrial Medicine and in Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics.
He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective April 2, 1973, with date of rank March 18, 1973.
(Current as of February 2021)