Dr. Albert H. (“Al”) Bonnema is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Medical Corps. He is board-certified in Family Practice and Preventive Medicine. He currently serves as a Physician Epidemiologist at the Population Health Support Division (PHSD), Brooks City-Base, Texas. The Population Health Support Division provides the Air Force Medical Service with program management in disease management and clinical preventive services projects, analysis of health data, health delivery systems prototyping, and health services research. Dr. Bonnema’s focus is in chronic disease management, promotion of clinical preventive services, and implementation of effective and efficient clinical practices. 

Dr. Bonnema’s experience in the Air Force includes time as a practicing physician and a practice manager, as well as leadership roles in hospital governance. From 1996-1999, he managed the Primary Care Clinic at the 375 Medical Group, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois and served as a Staff Physician. From 1999-2001, he managed a four-member, multidisciplinary team sponsored and funded by the Air Mobility Command. This team focused on implementation of the critical success factors for the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) Population Health Plan and the identification of barriers to population health at medical treatment facilities (MTFs). The team specifically identified population health informatics skills as a core competency that was in need of attention and improvement at the local MTF level. An innovative Population Health Informatics Seminar was developed that filled this void. The seminar received wide acclaim and is serving an array of local-level population health leaders including Credentialed Providers, Group Practice Managers, Health Care Integrators, Public Health Officers, Resource Managers, Health and Wellness Center personnel, Information Systems Specialists and others.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Bonnema has twice been honored to present to the AFMS Senior Leadership Conference, Leesburg, Virginia. In 1999, he presented the benefits of continuity and open access in primary care practices, and in 2000, he presented a cost-benefit analysis on implementing Population Health Management strategies. He has been a guest lecturer at several AFMS conferences, at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, the U.S. Navy’s Clinical Epidemiology Conference, Saint Louis University, Washington University and the Veterans Administration. Prior to his medical education and his joining the Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Bonnema was a Junior and Senior High science teacher and coach for four years.

Dr. Bonnema has dual board certification in Family Practice and Preventive Medicine. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1993 from the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1996, he completed a residency in Family Practice with The Toledo Hospital, Toledo, Ohio, where he received a Resident Teacher Award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. He completed a Fellowship in Preventive Medicine and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health in 2005.

He resides in Schertz, Texas with his wife Sheila, a homemaker, and their three children Andrew, Jessica and Adriana. He enjoys time with his family, reading and coaching in community sports programs.