November 12, 2025

by Lauren Ferguson

A day before Veterans Day, Ramapo College of New Jersey welcomed the 44th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, retired Lieutenant General Nadja West to campus to share her thoughts on topics such as leadership, service, mentorship and healthcare.

West joined her U.S. Military Academy classmate, Ramapo College President Cindy Jebb, on stage in the Trustees Pavilion for the Fall 2025 installment of Jebb’s Presidential Speaker Series. The fireside chat, entitled How Not to Get in Your Own Way was held before a standing-room-only crowd of engaged students, faculty, retirees, alumni, trustees and other stakeholders.

West, a physician and the highest-ranking woman graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was the first African American woman in the Army’s history to achieve the rank of Lieutenant General, and the first African American Army Surgeon General. As Army Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command, she led 130,000 Army healthcare professionals, overseeing personnel during the Army’s response to the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa.

West shared about her upbringing, being adopted into a large military family with 11 siblings, and a father who saw promise in the Army. Ten of the children in her family, including West, were inspired to join the military. During her academic and career journey, West told the audience, she faced imposter syndrome and sometimes felt underrepresented in certain spaces, but she sought out mentors and kept her faith.

Throughout the talk, she gave advice, referring back to her personal experiences, and expanding on how “not to get in your own way” when working towards goals. She shared her ways to overcome imposter syndrome: gain confidence by doing, pick a reason to keep going, and work to set an example for others. “Let me do the best I can in this area, so others can come behind me,” she explained.

On Mentorship

West told the audience to both seek out and be mentors themselves

“Reach out to someone who’s in that area that you’re interested in pursuing, and have a conversation and say, ‘How did you get here? What are some of the things that I should do? What are some of the pitfalls?’” she said. She also said mentoring relationships can vary. Some are longterm, while others are just for a moment.

West met one of her mentors, a doctor, in the elevator of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, while she was visiting her father and wearing her West Point uniform. He asked her what she planned on doing next, and she told him she was thinking about medical school, “but probably won’t get in.”

“He said, ‘What’s the worst they can do? Say no? Apply, and you get in, or you don’t … It’s plain and simple. And if you do, great, if you don’t, then you figure out why, and do better next time, or this isn’t for you,’” she recalled.

Their conversation taught her “if you don’t ask, if you don’t apply, you won’t get in,” she said. The brief interaction was one of the driving reasons she went to medical school.

Former Army Surgeon General Nadja West fielded questions from students following her fireside chat with President Jebb.

On Leadership

West told the audience that everybody can be a leader, to embrace the leaders within themselves, and cultivate the skills to take leadership to the next level.

“People need to know that you’re a leader of character, that you’re a person of integrity, that your word is your bond and you’re going to do what you’re saying, and you do that all the time,” she said. She also said to respect others, treat them with dignity, and to keep people informed.

The key to learning how to lead during a crisis – like the Ebola crisis – is not developing leadership skills during the crisis, she said. “It’s all about building a team, and doing those things in times of relative tranquility,” she said, so when you are in a crisis, you have a team around you that you can trust.

On Seizing Opportunity

The opportunities West was given have made all the difference in her life.

“My older sisters couldn’t be West Point graduates, because that wasn’t open,” but West entered West Point two years after the Academy opened to women. “That started me on a trajectory … So that’s what keeps me humble, just the gratitude for the opportunities that I’ve had. Yeah, I worked hard. I’m not going to say, I didn’t work hard, but I was given the opportunity to be able to work hard to get where I am.”

During her time on campus, West also met with student leaders representing the Nursing program, Honors program, Emergency Medical Services Club, Ebony Women for Social Change, Social Work Club, and the Latino Medical Student Association, as well as ROTC cadets. She also participated in a classroom dialogue with Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Kaitlin Sidorsky and her Principles of Public Policy course.

Former Army Surgeon General Nadja West spoke to students in Ramapo’s Principles of Public Policy course.

West was the latest influential leader and thinker to be welcomed to campus for the Presidential Speaker Series to foster intellectual engagement and dialogue within the Ramapo community. The events are designed to stimulate critical thinking, encourage open and interdisciplinary dialogue, model civil discourse, and inspire participants to consider diverse perspectives on complex issues. Past guests included cybersecurity expert Charlie Lewis, Stryker President of Joint Replacement Donald E. Payerle, retired Lieutenant General and former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the U.S. Army Mary Legere, and U.S. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

To learn more about the Presidential Speaker Series, and Jebb’s previous guests, visit the Presidential Speaker Series website.