SAN ANTONIO, Texas — United States Navy Captain Tina L. (Sylvain) Ortiz made Navy history by becoming the first woman and the first Nurse Corps Officer to command the Navy Medicine Information Systems Support Activity (NAVMISSA) on Sept. 1, 2008.

The NAVMISSA is the hub of Navy Medicine Information Management/Information Technology that supports 37 Navy hospitals and clinics, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort Hospital Ships, the war-fighter, fleet and over two million beneficiaries.

Ortiz was born and raised in Lewiston where she attended and graduated from Lewiston High School. Her educational achievements include a bachelor and masters degree in nursing from the Catholic University of America and a diploma in nursing from St. Mary’s General Hospital School of Nursing. She is a certified nurse practitioner and has been a nurse for more than 28 years.

She was commissioned as a Naval Officer on Aug. 8, 1989 in New Orleans, La., and has served honorably in the Navy for 20 years. Other assignments include serving as the Executive Officer for Naval Medical Information Management Center, Director of Programs and Integration at Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, recruiter at NRD and as a provider at multiple Naval hospitals and clinics.

A veteran of the Iraqi War, she was deployed in March 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She also supported the Haitian Crisis in December of 1991 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Ortiz is the daughter of retired Brigadier General (USA) and Mrs. Richard D. Sylvain of Lewiston. She is married to retired Lieutenant Colonel (USA) Carlos Ortiz and resides in San Antonio, Texas. They have four children, Maribel, Kristin, Catelyn and Carlos Jr., and one granddaughter, Alexandra.