In 2002, Colonel Patrick Birchfield received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Kansas City University. He completed a transitional internship at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in 2003, and in 2004 earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Colonel Birchfield completed his Aerospace Medicine Residency at the Naval Operational Medicine Institute in 2006 and in that same year became board certified in Aerospace Medicine from the American Osteopathic Board of Occupational and Preventive Medicine. In 2014, Dr. Birchfield became a fellow in the American Osteopathic College of Occupational and Preventive Medicine and has served as Aerospace Division Chair, Treasurer, President-Elect/Program Chair, President, and Past-President. In May 2018, he was elected a Fellow in the Aerospace Medicine Association and serves on the Awards Committee and Tuttle Award Committee of that organization.