Maj. General Lee E. Payne MD
Assistant Director for Management
Defense Health Agency (DHA)

Falls Church, VA

Maj. Gen. Lee E. Payne is the Assistant Director for Combat Support, Defense Health Agency. The DHA is a Combat Support Agency providing support to Combatant Commanders and enabling the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps medical services to provide a medically ready force and ready medical force. In addition to the ten joint Enterprise Support Activities supporting an integrated health delivery system, the DHA administers the TRICARE Health Plan providing worldwide medical, dental and pharmacy programs to more than 9.5 million uniformed service members, retirees and their families. General Payne is responsible for coordinating the Agency’s Combat Support functions to include supporting operating forces engaged in planning for or conducting military operations, or in the conduct of other military activities related to countering threats to U.S. national security. His responsibilities include oversight and supervision of the activities in support of the Joint Staff and the Combatant Commands including Public Health, Medical Logistics, Armed Forces Blood Program, Armed Forces Medical Examiner, Readiness and Emergency Operations, Force Readiness programs and the Joint Trauma System. General Payne also serves as the MHS Electronic Health Record Functional Champion for the DHA. The Functional Champion is responsible for oversight of the Office of the Chief Medical Informatics Office, and for ensuring the success of the new EHR. These responsibilities span the entire MHS enterprise for all military treatment facilities and clinics in all roles of care in the operational and garrison environments from point of injury, primary care, theater hospitalization, to the home front. The MHS Functional Champion provides a single voice at the executive level to lead the entire business transformation process and support provider buy-in for the MHS Genesis EHR. General Payne received his commission from the ROTC graduating with high distinction from the University of Kentucky in 1979. He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt Medical School, completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Colorado and a year of medical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Isenberg

School of Management. General Payne is a Chief Physician, Chief Flight Surgeon, and is board certified in emergency medicine and internal medicine. During his career, General Payne has commanded at the squadron level, three times as a Medical Group Commander including a Medical Center Command, served as a Major Command Surgeon three times, and as the Commander of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency. Prior to his current position, General Payne served as the Command Surgeon, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Laurie Rafferty, J.D.
Lead Ethics Attorney
Defense Health Agency (DHA)

Falls Church, VA

Laurie Powell Rafferty is the lead ethics attorney for the Defense Health Agency (DHA). She has held this position since 2008. Prior to DHA, Laurie was an ethics attorney for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

She has given numerous presentations on the Criminal Conflict of Interest Statutes and the Standards of Conduct regulation, and reviewed tens of thousands of financial disclosure reports.

Laurie also practiced in the Employment and Labor Law area for the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Resolution Trust Corporation, and the Commerce Department.

Prior to her Government service, Laurie worked for a small, private law firm in Washington, DC. Laurie graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia with an AB in English, and the George Mason University School of Law with a JD.

She is a member of the Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia bars.