2020 Outstanding Alumna

The Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation has named United States Air Force Colonel Leslie Stufft Knight MD, as the ZTA 2020 Outstanding Alumna for her exemplary leadership in medicine and dedicated military service to our country. Dr. Knight is currently Deputy Command Surgeon of the Air Force Materiel Command.

Dr. Knight is a 1990 graduate of Salisbury University in Maryland, where she served as both President and Treasurer of ZTA’s Theta Delta Chapter. After earning her bachelor of science degree in biology, she entered the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, with a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. She received her doctor of medicine in 1994 and completed her residency in family medicine at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in 1997.

Throughout her career, Dr. Knight has led at the squadron and group level of the Air Force Medical Service. She has served as Chief of Clinical Quality of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency, taught as an assistant adjunct professor in medical school, earned a senior flight surgeon rating and deployed for wartime service in Kuwait and Afghanistan.

In Kuwait, her role was Director of Base Medical Services, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, Al-Jaber Air Base, from May to September 2002. In Afghanistan, she commanded 225 members of the 455th Expeditionary Medical Operations Squadron at Bagram Airfield from March to September 2010. While facing weekly bombing attacks, the squadron saved lives in the only trauma center in the area and achieved a 99% survival rate.

During her 30 years of service, Dr. Knight has earned many medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star, given for meritorious service in a war zone. She is a staunch advocate for women in the military health service as a member and past chairperson of the Council for Female Physician Recruitment and Retention. The Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians named her Family Physician of the Year in 2007, and she received the Air Force “Building Female Physician Leaders” Award in 2011.

“Dr. Knight exemplifies so many of Zeta Tau Alpha’s Key Values—especially Loyalty & Commitment, Leadership and Lifelong Learning,” says ZTA Foundation President Carolyn Hof Carpenter. “We are inspired by her career in the military and medicine and humbled by her service to our country. Every member is proud to call her our sister.”

Currently stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dr. Knight lives Fairborn, Ohio. Her husband, Jack, and their two children, Heather and James, have accompanied her on overseas tours in England and Japan, as well as assignments in Maryland, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska and New Mexico.

The Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation introduced the Outstanding Alumna Award at Convention 1982 to recognize ZTA alumnae who have become outstanding leaders in their chosen professions, demonstrated significant accomplishments and made notable contributions to society.