Department of Defense Recognizes UAMS’ Nathan Johnson, Ph.D.
| The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program in the U.S. Department of Defense recently recognized Nathan Johnson, Ph.D., with the Patriotic Employer Award.
Johnson is chair of the Department of Laboratory Sciences in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Health Professions. He is also a professor and director of the department’s Medical Laboratory Sciences Program.
“The award presentation surprised the heck out of me,” Johnson said. “Rebecca Bird came in with [retired Col. Tom Anderson], and I was just taking notes as part of a regular meeting. I was thinking, ‘What is this about?’ And he started talking, and then I was asking myself, ‘And what is Rebecca doing here?’ That was highly unusual. Yeah, I’ve never been so surprised in my life.”
Rebecca Bird, MLS, who retired from the Air National Guard in May as a lieutenant colonel, is an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Sciences, and she nominated Johnson for the honor.
The Patriotic Employer Award is part of the Patriot Award series of awards from the ESGR program and reflects the efforts made to support citizen warriors through a wide range of measures including flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for families, and granting leaves of absence, if needed.
“When I need military service time off, there are five full-time faculty and three adjuncts who cover for me,” Bird said. “This allowed for my classes to thrive in 2024 when I was unexpectedly absent during my heaviest workload time of year. Dr. Johnson supporting Operation Epic Fury by allowing me scheduling flexibility to cover Little Rock Air Force Base as laboratory technical consultant while their lab officer was in undisclosed locations.”
Several members of the department’s faculty as well as adjunct faculty are retired military, including Johnson. Johnson served in the Louisiana Army National Guard for five years and was active duty in the Air Force for more than 28 years as a Biomedical Laboratory Sciences Officer, retiring with the rank of colonel.
Under Johnson’s leadership, the department’s student enrollment has grown exponentially from fewer than 50 students in 2017 to about 1,200 this semester.
“Our first recruiting trip we ever took in 2017 was to Little Rock Air Force Base,” Johnson said. “And the military students make up about 10% of our student body. That’s a good estimate.”
Bird said Johnson and the department support online students in military service by allowing for adjustments or extensions allowing them to advance from Medical Lab Technician to Medical Lab Scientist. That flexibility in scheduling assists about 75 online students annually, Bird estimated.
“It’s just kind of built into our DNA,” Johnson said. “So, it makes the military students feel at home in our program. They have a different lifestyle, and we’re just supportive of that. And it has really helped us, making sure that when we’re supportive of them and flexible with them, it also extends to all of our students. Designing the program to have that flexibility has just made the program very attractive.”
One of those students who graduated from the on-campus program in 2025 and was helped by that support was Lucien Vinyeng. He was promoted from senior airman (E-4) in the Air Force Reserves to second lieutenant (O-2) on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. The program allowed him to go from aircraft maintenance technician to supervisory Medical Lab Scientist.
“Because of their understanding of what it takes to be in the service, they didn’t move the goal line,” Vinyeng said in 2025. “It did build a strong bond, a strong rapport.”