The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine

The Royal C. Johnson VA Medical Center and Sanford School of Medicine GME Office are pleased to announce the arrival of a new VA Graduate Medical Education coordinator, Jennifer Greco, MD.

"I am very pleased to be able to transfer to the VA hospital in Sioux Falls," Dr. Greco said. "I look forward to being able to continue to teach, and I am especially excited about becoming a part of The University of South Dakota, which I've always felt provided me an excellent education."

Dr. Greco is a native of South Dakota, growing up in Madison. She attended The University of South Dakota for both her undergraduate degree and medical school. She attended medical school on a military scholarship as part of the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Upon graduation Dr. Greco was commissioned as an Officer in the United States Armey and was assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma, Washington, for her internship and residency in Internal Medicine.

Dr. Greco spent nine years on active duty working in military treatment facilities in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and West Point, New York. She has also been deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003 Dr. Greco worked as a hospitalist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, taking care of soldiers evacuated from Iraq. In 2004 she worked in the emergency department at the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq.

"My experience in Baghdad was amazing," Dr. Greco attests. "I was able to do things I never would have been able to do experience in a regular hospital setting."

Dr. Greco left the military in 2006 to work as a hospitalist at Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor, New York. Her husband, Tom, an engineer in the Army, was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in July 2008. Dr. Greco then began working at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Veteran's Hospital as a hospitalist and attending physician for internal medicine and family medicine residents from the University of Kansas. When the Grecos found out Tom would be deployed to Iraq this fall, they decided to move back to South Dakota so Jennifer and their three children could be closer to her family. The Greco children are Thomas, 10; Emily, 8; and Benjamin, 3.

Dr. Greco said she is ready for the next career challenge which lies ahead of her. She describes herself as "pretty laid back," but very picky about documentation.

"I want to make the VA a great place for residents to rotate," Dr. Greco explained, "but I want them to learn a lot, too."