Lt. Col. Ciara Rakestraw, MD ’01, assistant deputy chief of clinical services/OB-GYN physician, at the USO Warrior Center in Landstuhl, Germany, with the Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders during the Salute to Service event. Rakestraw is based at the U.S. Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Ciara Rakestraw ’01 always knew she wanted to be a doctor. But she never expected her medical career to take her all over the world.
Rakestraw now serves as the deputy chief medical officer for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, the U.S. military’s largest medical center in a foreign country.
Her career as an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) in the U.S. Army has taken her to military hospitals in Alaska, New York, and Hawaii, and on medical training missions to Ethiopia, Ghana, and the United Kingdom.
“That aspect [I] would not have gotten as a civilian,” Rakestraw, a lieutenant colonel, says of her globe-trotting career.
She remembers being intrigued by hospitals, doctors, and nurses from a very young age. “Growing up—this sounds bad—but I wanted to have a broken leg or something that would get me to the hospital,” she laughs.
She began considering a military career when she learned the U.S. government covers the cost of medical training. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, she enrolled in Morehouse School of Medicine on a military scholarship.
Rakestraw says she chose OB-GYN as her specialty because it promised to mix routine patient care with fast-paced labor and delivery work. She completed her residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and has worked on Army bases treating service members and their families ever since.
Rakestraw performs an operation with Ghanaian OB-GYNs during a U.S. Army/Ghana Medical Exercise at the 37th Military Hospital, Accra, Ghana.
As her career has advanced, Rakestraw has taken on more administrative responsibilities. She says she’s been surprised by how much she has enjoyed moving into leadership roles, such as her current role at Landstuhl.
“I was shocked, because I thought I was going to miss patient care more,” Rakestraw says. “It’s fun being at the table, being able to make some of the decisions for more than just your clinic, but for the hospital.”
She can still see patients occasionally, she notes. “I’m lucky enough that we do have OB-GYN [services] in our hospital, so I can deliver babies when I get the itch.”
Being a military doctor also has given Rakestraw the opportunity to participate in military global health engagements. These are opportunities for military physicians to work with colleagues in allied nations to share expertise, practice working together, and team up to address global health threats.
Rakestraw was part of a team of U.S. military medical personnel that traveled to Ghana in 2024 to perform surgeries and see patients alongside doctors in the Ghanaian Armed Forces.
Such missions help U.S. military doctors learn about international medical standards and understand how doctors in other countries perform surgeries and manage equipment, Rakestraw says.
The always-on culture of the military has its drawbacks, she says. “You pretty much are considered active duty,” she says. “You’re 24/7. They can call on you whenever they need you.”
But one of the biggest perks of her career has been the opportunity to travel, both for work and for fun. “I love traveling,” she says. “If I could travel for a job all the time, I definitely would.”