Navy Capt. Karen Belcar has assumed the role of chief nursing officer for Defense Health Network Pacific Rim and Naval Medical Forces Pacific, headquartered in San Diego.
She brings 25 years of military nursing experience to oversee nursing operations across nine military treatment facilities and 10 commands throughout the Western United States and Indo-Pacific region.
“The chief nursing officer is essential to our mission success for both the network and the region” said Rear Adm. Guido Valdes, Pacific Rim director and Naval Medical Forces Pacific commander. “Capt. Belcar brings exceptional leadership experience and clinical expertise to this critical position.”
As the network chief nursing officer, Belcar, a native of Stamford, Connecticut, serves as a vital link between military treatment facilities and the Defense Health Agency. She is also responsible for supporting chief nursing officers, and liaising with the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and the Office of the Navy Nurse Corps.
“I facilitate coordination, monitoring, and integration of activities at the network level, including partnerships and training requirements for the Total Nursing Force,” Belcar explained.
For Belcar, nursing isn’t just a career—it’s a family legacy that spans generations and connects her to a proud tradition of military service and health care excellence.
“My grandmother was a nurse midwife during World War II, and most of my aunts, cousins, and sister are nurses,” she said. “I guess it runs in my blood.”
Belcar’s military career began with a Navy Reserve Officers’ Training Corps nursing scholarship at Villanova University.
Beginning her career in medical-surgical nursing, Belcar went on to earn her master’s degree from Point Loma Nazarene University as an adult/gerontology clinical nurse specialist. She most recently served as the chief nursing officer and director of nursing services at an overseas hospital and command, U.S. Naval Hospital and U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command in Sigonella, Sicily.
