Additional Event Information & Acknowledgement of Industry Sponsor(s):
Dr Tony Rizzo is dual-trained as a General Surgeon and Aerospace Medicine Physician with thousands of peacetime and wartime surgeries. He is a Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Polk State College. He earned Endowed Faculty Member status in 2017, after only three years at the College. He guest lectures in the Polk State College Aerospace Program, and is a member of Polk’s Aerospace Safety Committee.
He came to Winter Haven after retiring from the US Air Force and has a total of 39 1/2 years of federal service.
He is also an Intelligence Officer, starting his career as a CIA officer and ending his career as the Director of the National Center for Medical Intelligence, one of the five National Intelligence Centers under the Defense Intelligence Agency. He has either lived or worked in every country in Africa, as well as multiple countries in the Middle East and Europe.
Dr Rizzo is an Air Force Senior Flight Surgeon who was the investigating flight surgeon on two F-16 class-A losses. He has deployed to five armed conflicts. He has logged military flight time in the F-16B, B-1B, KC-135, various C- and KC-130 models, T-37, the HH-60 helicopter. He was a Space Shuttle Flight Surgeon for seven years. His civilian pilot-in-command time includes over 1000 hours in Velocities, as well as extensive time in multiple Cessnas, Pipers, Beechcrafts, Mooneys, an SGS sailplane, and the Ryan PT-22.
Dr Rizzo was decorated thirty-seven times; his decorations include the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal from the Director of National Intelligence, the Intelligence Star from the Director of the CIA, two Defense Superior Service Medals and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal from two Secretaries of Defense.