Two former Army captains leave medical operations and military intelligence to study military medicine at the Uniformed Services University.
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| Then-1st Lt. Donovan Hinton and his partner pull a simulated casualty on a litter during the stress shoot lane of the 2026 Army Best Medic Competition. (Photo courtesy of Pfc. Jose Rolando Garcia) |
September 30, 2026 by Melissa Reichley
For many military officers, their career trajectory is set when they’re commissioned. For 2nd Lt. Donovan Hinton and 2nd Lt. Yulee "Kristel" Shin, however, their Army service gave them the skills and confidence to move forward with their next life mission: leaving their respective fields to pursue medical degrees at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine.
Both officers began their military journeys at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but their paths to medicine diverged significantly before joining the USU Class of 2030.
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| Army 2nd Lt. Donovan Hinton, a 2022 West Point graduate, and Army 2nd Lt. Yulee "Kristel" Shin, a 2016 West Point graduate, are first-year students in the Class of 2030 at the USU F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, Uniformed Services University) |
Two Paths Toward Medicine
Hinton’s interest in anatomy started in elementary school, after he was injured playing football. His mother taught health, which sparked his curiosity further to learn “what caused people to get sick—and how to help them get better.” He studied kinesiology at West Point but wasn’t fully committed to the long path to becoming a doctor, so he commissioned into the Medical Service Corps after graduating in 2022.
During a two-year tour in South Korea, Hinton managed medical readiness for a combat aviation support battalion of more than 500 personnel. He worked directly with Army Maj. Dr. Jeff Hon, who completed his internal medicine residency at Walter Reed. Hinton made time outside his primary responsibilities to shadow providers at the Brian D. Allgood Hospital at Camp Humphreys.
“Whenever we conducted medical operations or worked in the aid station, I'd be by their side as we received and treated patients,” remembers Hinton. “Frequently, I would think to myself that I should be in that role as the doctor. That kept resonating in the back of my head.”
But it was during several holdover periods between phases at Ranger School in 2024—a grueling 173-day experience overall—where Hinton spent long days with no phone or electronics reflecting on his goals and realized he wanted to dedicate his life to medicine. By the time he transitioned to serving as a medical officer with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Vilseck, Germany, he was studying for the MCAT.
Shin’s interest began in high school, when she volunteered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in her hometown of Los Angeles and wanted to talk with patients, doctors, and nurses as much as she could. At West Point, she shadowed an obstetrician-gynecologist for two months, scrubbing in on surgeries and watching live births.
About a year into her studies, health issues put her on a yearlong medical leave that set back her academics. Her advisor suggested Shin serve in the Army before applying to med school, so she chose military intelligence as her Army branch.
The 2016 graduate has served in various military intelligence roles ever since. She spent two years in Grafenwoehr, Germany, supporting tactical planners with the fast-paced 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, then returned to the U.S. as an executive officer with Army recruiting in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic. When she started her master’s in Strategic Intelligence and Analysis, she rediscovered how much she enjoyed academics. “As I started studying, I realized medical school had continuously been in the back of my mind,” Shin said.
Resolved to try again, Shin started shadowing a physician at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where she served from 2021 to 2024. She decided she would rather apply and fall short than never find out. "Medical school would have been a regret if I didn't even try," she reflects.
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| Donovan Hinton, left, holds his promotion certificate after his promotion to Army captain in May 2026. (Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Bryan Martin) |
Tested in the Field, Now in the Classroom
Both officers tested their limits in demanding operational settings before arriving at USU. Hinton treated each Ranger School recycle as a chance to learn and to help his peers through the course. He went on to earn the Expert Field Medical Badge, an Army qualification that tests medical soldiers on combat casualty care and field skills, as the honor graduate. In December 2025, he and his partner, Army Pfc. William Shapley, won the 2025 Europe Best Medic Competition, a four-day test of tactical combat casualty care, land navigation, weapons qualification, and physical endurance.
Shin faced her own tests of endurance. In 2022, she completed her master’s and studied for the MCAT while carrying a full load of operational duties. USU waitlisted her the first time she applied, but she persisted, learning along the way to go easier on herself. “The biggest thing I had to learn on this journey was giving myself grace,” Shin said.
Now in their second month of medical school, the two former Army captains are adjusting to full-time study after years away from higher education. Shin hopes to specialize in cardiothoracic surgery, and Hinton wants to pursue orthopedics.
For service members considering a similar leap, Hinton and Shin offer the same advice: trust the process, remember your purpose, and push forward without fear of failure.
Hinton and Shin join a long line of West Point graduates who have gone on to medicine at USU. Among them is Army Col. (Dr.) Frank Rubio, a 2010 graduate of the School of Medicine and NASA astronaut who served as a Black Hawk pilot before earning his medical degree. Rubio was named in June to the crew of Artemis III.
Other West Point graduates in the Class of 2030 include biology major Sean Lai ’26 of Brea, California; avid runner Emmaline Pendleton ’26, a longtime Maine resident; Liam Reff ’23, a Kentucky native and former tank platoon leader at Fort Stewart, Georgia; Eric Song ’26, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and competed in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition; and Josh Soriano ’26 of Katy, Texas, a former Army photographer who loves to cook.