VA Rocky Mountain Network Announces New Sheridan VA Health Care System Director

Dr. Crawford is responsible for 750 employees, one medical center and eight outlying clinics, and oversees delivery of health care services covering 540,000 square miles within the state of Wyoming, with an operating budget of $238 million.

“We are excited to bring Dr. Crawford on board as the new director of the Sheridan VA Health Care System,” said Sunaina Kumar-Giebel, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19 Director.  “His sound leadership qualities and proven experience will be valuable assets for the facility, the employees and volunteers, and most importantly, for the Veterans we are honored to serve.”

Crawford expressed that he was thrilled to be offered the position, and he looks forward to continuing his efforts to make a positive impact on the lives of Veterans and VA staff.

Nearly 25 years of serving Veterans 

Crawford earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University in 2005. He has served in the VA for nearly 25 years, with a decade as the SVAHCS Chief of Staff. He began his VA career as an Extern and Research Assistant at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in 2001 and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Durham VA Medical Center in 2005 and a post-doctoral fellowship in PTSD and Stress-Related Disorders at the VA San Diego Health Care System in 2006.  Following the completion of his training, Crawford joined the National Center for PTSD at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System as a Cooperative Studies Project Director before transitioning back to Durham, where he served for several years as Lead Psychologist in the Durham VA Medical Center’s OEF-OIF-OND Program, providing psychological services to Veterans with post-deployment mental health concerns. Prior to joining the Sheridan system in 2015, Crawford operated as an Assistant Professor in Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and as Assistant Director of the Clinical Core within VA’s Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center.

About the Sheridan VA Health Care System

The SVAHCS is a complexity level three facility serving Veterans across three quarters of Wyoming within the Rocky Mountain Region. The main facility is a 200-bed medical center located in Sheridan, Wyoming, with ten inpatient medical beds, 20 acute psychiatric beds, 55 community living center beds, and 115 Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program beds. The system also has eight community outpatient clinics located in the following counties: Campbell, Fremont, Lincoln, Natrona, Park, Sweetwater, Uinta, and Washakie.

The Sheridan VA Health Care System is unique in that its staff offer the full spectrum of mental health services, from acute psychiatric care to residential rehabilitation, various outpatient specialty clinics and community-based programming. The medical center also serves as the psychiatry referral site for VISN 19.