For Iowa Alum and Army Officer, Service to Country is at Root of Work
PHOTO COURTESY PAUL M. COLTHIRST
Col. Paul M. Colthirst, the 30th chief of the U.S. Army Dental Corps, guides dental readiness and policy for the military branch.
As the newly appointed chief of the U.S. Army Dental Corps, Col. Paul M. Colthirst (08MS) guides dental policies that affect over 400,000 active-duty personnel worldwide. His journey to becoming a senior military officer did not begin through traditional recruitment means, however. Instead, it began at his local movie theater.
In 1995, Colthirst saw the blockbuster film Outbreak. Starring Patrick Dempsey, Morgan Freeman, and Donald Sutherland, the psychological thriller imagines how top U.S. Army officers and officials might respond to the spread of a deadly, contagious virus.
When the credits began to roll, Colthirst knew exactly what he wanted to do. “I left the movie theater, and I went directly to the recruiting center,” he says. Colthirst joined the Army that same day and went on to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
Colthirst’s decision to attend the University of Iowa happened in another unexpected place. While deployed in Iraq, Colthirst was a brigade dental surgeon attached to an infantry unit. His job was to move from one battlefield to the next and provide dental care to the soldiers. In this role, Colthirst says he discovered a disconnect between the medical policy and its implementation.
According to Colthirst, who was honored this fall as the UI Dental Alumni Association’s 2026 Dental Service Recognition Awardee, “It’s my inquisitiveness of asking ‘why’ that led me to dental public health.” He says that he is especially grateful for Alice Wright-Ruth Vogt Bush-Dr. Paul & Mabel Shreves Endowed Professor of Research Steven Levy, professor John Warren (81BS, 86DDS, 91MS), professor Peter Damiano (82BS, 86DDS), and UI College of Public Health senior research scientist Elizabeth Momany (82BS, 84MA, 88PhD), who helped him conceptualize solving large-scale problems.
After completing Iowa’s two-year Master of Science program in dental public health, Colthirst held many leadership roles, including at Dental Health Commands in the Pacific and at Fort Hood and policymaking positions at the headquarters of the Army Medical Department and the Office of the Surgeon General. When Colthirst got the call about his latest appointment, he says, “It was very humbling.”
From the movie theater to battlefields in Iraq, he says, “I know all my experiences have led me to this moment.”