Major Angela McConnell began her military career with Basic Training at Fort Jackson SC, as a Private E-1 in the Active Army. After placing second in her military occupational specialty school (MOS) , she was selected to work as a biomedical research specialist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology on the Walter Reed Hospital campus. She achieved the rank of Sergeant E-5 in two years and was promoted and moved to support the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences at Bethesda Naval Hospital Campus in Maryland. Here she supported 100+ biohazardous research protocols and trained rising military medical students during this assignment.
After almost five years of active Army duty plus some additional Army reserve time, she transitioned into the North Carolina National Guard where she went through the NCNG Officer’s Candidate School (OCS) and after 16 months achieved her commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1995. This was followed by Officer’s Intelligence Basic Course at Fort Huachuca AZ.
From the Army National Guard and Army Reserve she transitioned to the Air Force Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) program (Green to Blue) and supported intelligence at the Pentagon during 911, as a part of the Defense Intelligence Agency Boling AFB, 3rd Air Force Ramstein Germany. At 3rd Air Force she harmonized Headquarters Air Force’s multifunctional anti-terrorism integration through significant revision to the Worldwide Asymmetric Threat database. Utilized by all USAF commands, the database permitted base best practices to be rapidly correlated and disseminated worldwide for enhanced anti-terrorism operations; and provided integrated, multi-discipline intelligence to satisfy warfighter requirements for all phases of military operations. During this assignment she won the highly competitive IMA of the quarter and year. Before retiring in 2009, now Major McConnell focused outside of her intelligence branch and strategically and purposely positioned herself at the DoD Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, Silver Springs MD. This is where she leaned forward and focused on the integrative whole-person concept. She provided integrative patient-centered care expertise and education to leadership and staff.
Major McConnell was one of the first to support acupuncture in a military project through research and aggregation of data to produce information papers used for determining best courses of action to progress military medicine, treatment options, and best practices. One widely utilized protocol she facilitated is now known as Battlefield Acupuncture.
Retiring after over 22 years serving in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Reserves, Angela was determined to put her experience, education (including a Ph.D. in Health Administration) and passion for her fellow veterans to work helping others who served.
In 2015, after volunteering for multiple veteran programs, she co-founded the Prince William Chamber of Commerce Veterans Council. Soon, Angela decided to expand that work and created and founded the Northern Virginia Veterans Association, (NOVAVets.org), a non-profit organization with the overall mission of providing “our most vulnerable veterans the personalized support and attention they need to access and overcome barriers to essential services and resources not otherwise attainable.
Northern Virginia is home to one of the largest populations of military veterans not only in Virginia but also in the U.S. NOVA Veterans has and continues to serve veterans who live in a ten-county area. Under her leadership as President and CEO and founder Dr. McConnell has assembled a distinguished Board of Directors and experienced and skilled support staff and volunteers who share her vision of holistically helping veterans and their families. NOVA Veterans has also gained the financial support of many of Northern Virginia’s largest private companies and foundations who believe in their mission.
In a recent interview, Dr. McConnell related NOVA Veterans’ goal to support veterans with “a comprehensive and holistic approach” to improve their quality of their life. This support includes healthcare, homelessness, food insecurity, financial, counseling, suicide prevention and more and does so by coordinating them with those that can provide these services including the DVS Virginia Veterans and Family Support (VVSF) program. She is especially concerned in providing services to our vulnerable veterans who need personalized support to include our elderly, disabled, health-challenged, and low-income veterans, as many are not technically savvy and may not have access to a computer. NOVA Veterans consider all those they help as ‘clients’ and they are our clients for life as we continually check back with them on a regular basis. The motto is: Veterans, You’re Home Now.” She is particularly proud to provide suicide prevention services for our most at-risk veterans through the support of multiple DVS Suicide Prevention & Opioid Addiction Services (SOS) grant programs. Prevention starts long before veterans begin to give up hope, Dr. McConnell insists, and NOVA Veterans is there giving veterans the essential services and hope they need to survive and thrive.
In 2025, Dr. McConnell was appointed by Virginia’s Governor Youngkin to Virginia’s Joint Leadership Council of Veteran Service Organizations (JLC) where she volunteers her time and expertise towards shaping and informing necessary veteran/military legislation and policy.
For more information about NOVA Veterans, its mission and how you can support is available at NOVAVets.org
