Richard Malish

Rich Malish was born in Lufkin, Texas and entered the Johns Hopkins University in 1988. In college, Rich played 4 years of varsity football and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. A member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society, he graduated from the Uniformed Services University in 1996, receiving a Doctor of Medicine degree. Rich pursued tours as an operational medicine physician with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the 173rd Airborne Brigade before specializing in cardiology. He deployed multiple times with these units, including parachuting into Iraq in March 2003 to establish the Northern Front. Rich climbed through the medical ranks, progressively commanding three medical units. He was the distinguished graduate in his year at the Command and General Staff College and a distinguished graduate at the Army War College. In both graduate programs, Rich won writing and research awards. Rich’s final command was that of the hospital and medical system at Fort Cavazos, Texas (then Fort Hood). In this role, he led the community through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In all of his assignments, Rich studied, wrote, and published peer-reviewed material on health policy. He has a portfolio of articles that mirror his assignments. Board certified in internal medicine and cardiology, Rich retired from the Army in June 2024 and currently works as a healthcare policy consultant. Rich is married to Kate and the father of Norah. They live in Alexandria, Virginia with two cats: Soybean and Sweet.