Uniformed Services University Student and Alumni Support Indo-Pacific Humanitarian Mission

Tonga Mission Stop Highlights USU’s Role in Strengthening Health Systems and Operational Readiness as Part of the Annual Pacific Partnership Mission

Navy Lt. (Dr.) Louis Pingotti and Cmdr. (Dr.) Samantha Jennings, both alumni of USU’s Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, review patient information during a clinical encounter at the Mu’a clinic in Tonga. As part of the Pacific Partnership 2025 mission, they provided essential health services, supported local capacity-building, and strengthened international collaboration. (Photo courtesy of Pacific Partnership 2025)
Navy Lt. (Dr.) Louis Pingotti and Cmdr. (Dr.) Samantha Jennings, both alumni of USU’s Daniel K. Inouye
Graduate School of Nursing, review patient information during a clinical encounter at the Mu’a clinic in Tonga.
As part of the Pacific Partnership 2025 mission, they provided essential health services, supported local
capacity-building, and strengthened international collaboration. (Photo courtesy of Pacific Partnership 2025)

July 21, 2025 by Sharon Holland

Three members of the Uniformed Services University’s (USU) Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN)—representing its students, faculty, and alumni—contributed to Pacific Partnership 2025, the U.S. Navy’s flagship multinational humanitarian mission across the Indo-Pacific.

This year’s mission included several stops across the region, including the Kingdom of Tonga, where the USU participants provided medical support and capacity-building assistance. The Tonga mission stop, held in Nuku’alofa from June 18-28, focused on advancing health security and regional resilience.

Maj. Tiffany Wilson, a USU GSN Class of 2026 Family Nurse Practitioner/Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (FNP/WHNP) student, and Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Samantha Jennings, a GSN Phase II site program director for USU stationed at Naval Hospital Bremerton and a 2017 USU GSN FNP/WHNP graduate, joined the mission in Tonga. 

Their participation reduced the personnel sourcing strain typically experienced by military treatment facilities during such missions and enabled Wilson to complete an operational clinical rotation delivering care to medically complex patients in resource-limited environments. This hands-on opportunity also helped prepare her for future such engagements throughout the world. 

In Tonga, Jennings and Wilson delivered essential health services alongside Tongan Health Officer Lupe at the rural Mu’a clinic—including diabetes care, reproductive health education, prenatal health care delivery, and infection control training. 

Cmdr. (Dr.) Samantha Jennings, USU GSN faculty member and 2017 alumna, conducts a clinical exam during a patient encounter at the Mu’a clinic in Tonga. Jennings helped deliver diabetes care, reproductive health services, and prenatal education alongside local healthcare workers as part of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Partnership 2025 humanitarian mission. (Photo courtesy of Pacific Partnership 2025)
Cmdr. (Dr.) Samantha Jennings, USU GSN faculty member and 2017 alumna, conducts a clinical exam
during a patient encounter at the Mu’a clinic in Tonga. Jennings helped deliver diabetes care, reproductive
health services, and prenatal education alongside local healthcare workers as part of the U.S. Navy’s
Pacific Partnership 2025 humanitarian mission. (Photo courtesy of Pacific Partnership 2025)

Also supporting the broader mission was Navy Lt. (Dr.) Louis Pingotti, a 2023 GSN FNP/WNHP alumnus assigned to Naval Medical Readiness Training Center Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, who served as the Medical Line of Effort Country Lead for the Tonga mission stop. In this key leadership role, Pingotti led mission planning and execution for healthcare support there, helping shape medical priorities and build international partnerships.

The team’s efforts in Tonga also included planned activities with the Royal Nursing School, contributing to local nursing education and public health readiness. A One Health tabletop exercise—focused on responding to a gastrointestinal illness outbreak—underscored the importance of integrating human, animal, and environmental health to improve regional disease response capabilities.

In addition to the GSN team, additional USU support came from School of Medicine 2013 graduate, assistant professor, and critical care physician Navy Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Sean Foley,  who increased the knowledge, skills, and abilities of Tonga’s intern and registrar physicians on various clinical topics and procedures, including performing a thoracentesis using point-of-care ultrasound.

USU alumnus Navy Lt. (Dr.) William Douthitt—who holds both a medical degree and a Master of Public Health from USU—served as a preventive medicine physician during the mission. He led the multidisciplinary foodborne illness tabletop exercise that strengthened Tonga’s public health and communicable disease infrastructure to better respond to disease outbreaks.

“Global health missions like Pacific Partnership give our students and graduates the opportunity to apply their skills in dynamic, real-world environments that directly support U.S. operational readiness,” said Dr. Carol Romano, Dean of the Graduate School of Nursing. “These experiences also foster enduring partnerships and strengthen health systems in host nations.”