All the ribbons, bows and balloons couldn’t make this moment more special for Luis Rohena.  

It was Oct. 15, 2021, his 3-year-old daughter Mireya’s birthday. Her wide brown eyes glimmered at the sight of the Peppa Pig-themed occasion just for her, surrounded by her family and friends.   

Rohena’s eyes glimmered at points, too, not from the childlike excitement of a day full of presents and pampering, but because the simple thought of this celebration had driven him through four of the most challenging months of his life. He was relieved to be home from his deployment in Qatar, but the mere days that had passed failed to distance him from the troubles of thousands of refugee children.  

Many of them were not so different from Mireya, with bows in their hair and toys in their hands. Yet, the best way their parents could care for them was not by showering them with gifts, but by whisking them away from life as they knew it.  

Rohena had so many other obligations vying for his attention: family, Texas Tech University doctoral program, pediatric patients, students and the U.S. Army. But no matter the task at hand – even during those as sweet as this party – he could still envision the fear and desperation exhibited by the women and children refugees.  

Rohena felt a sense of gratitude, even solace, when Mireya blew out the candles on her pink cupcake and didn’t have to wish for a roof over her head or safety during a time of uncertainty. Still, he could barely vocalize his own wish for her and her two siblings. 

“If I were in the same situation, [I would want somebody to] render care to my children the same way,” Rohena says, his voice shaking. He pauses, visibly struggling to collect himself and hold back the sobs that threaten to escape. 

After a moment, he chokes out, “It was worthwhile, and in some aspects, refreshing, because if there were a type of patient that I would want to have taken care of, it’s a pediatric patient.  

“I feel like I was at the right place at the right time.” 

Rohena was incognito in his black T-shirt at the birthday party. His coworkers and most of the people he has met over the years typically see him in uniform as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and the many roles he fills through Fort Sam Houston’s Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. There, he is the deputy chief of the Department of Pediatrics, chief of Medical Genetics, director of the Metabolic Clinic and a full professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University.  

His drive to gain these titles and promotions dates all the way back to his upbringing in the Bronx, firm in the belief he would become a doctor one day. His mother’s ever-encouraging presence kept education paramount in their home.   

She and his father passed away while Rohena was still in high school, and he has missed her dearly ever since.  

“I promised her I would continue furthering my education,” Rohena shares. “Even though she did not get to see my high school graduation, I’m sure she is very proud of all of the achievements that have occurred since then.” 

Rohena pushed himself to gain a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry with honors from Columbia University in 2004. The day he graduated, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.  

From there, Rohena attended Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, also his birth country. It was there he earned his doctorate in medicine, graduated with honors in 2008 and subsequently attained the rank of captain. For the next five years, he completed an internship and residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in clinical genetics, becoming one of the few pediatric geneticists in the U.S. military.  

By 2013, Rohena not only secured his chief of genetics title at Brooke Army Medical Center, but he also fell in love.  

“We’ve been together for 10 years now,” Rohena boasts about his husband Christopher Luna, whom he married in 2015. “He has been a complete rock to everything I have done.” 

Rohena and Luna became the proud parents of two daughters and a teenage son. Despite the additional responsibilities that came along with his titles of husband and father, along with his promotion to major, Rohena felt compelled to follow the military’s encouragement for him to seek the education he would need to advance his leadership.  

He obtained his master’s degree in management from the University of Maryland in 2019, then considered taking a break for a while. But he could still hear his promise to his mother intertwined with his goals as a researcher. 

“I was seeing differences in terms of the diversity within my department; I’m one of very few minority-commissioned personnel and doctors here,” he says. “I wanted to know what the access was for enlisted minority members and officers to further their education and look at programs that would help them get other degrees, including medical doctorates.” 

To further investigate, Rohena learned the best route would be to pursue his doctoral degree in higher education through Texas Tech – a decision he made after he reached out to the College of Education with questions about how the program would support his research.  

At first, he was apprehensive about whether he should take time off before applying, but the faculty he spoke with ensured he was ready. With such a motivating team to guide his path, Rohena felt empowered to submit his application. 

He was accepted for the fall 2019 semester and made several immersion visits to get acquainted with the program and his colleagues before transitioning to distance learning. That’s when he met Valerie Paton, a professor of educational psychology, leadership, and counseling who would become his adviser and dissertation chair.  

“He was a good student, writer, thinker and a leader of the cohort and his peers,” she says. “That becomes important.” 

Those words were ever so true in July 2021, when Rohena was deployed for the first time. He emailed Paton to let her know he would serve as a brigade surgeon in the small country of Qatar – saying goodbye to his family but taking his medical expertise and educational aspirations with him on his journey overseas.  

Rohena held the rank of lieutenant colonel by the time he boarded a plane to join the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade as part of Operation Enduring Freedom-Spartan Shield. The purpose was to assist with air defense for the region.  

He assured Paton he would not only be able to fulfill class requirements, but he also would have more uninterrupted study time.  

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, Dr. Paton,” she recalls. “It’s going to be easier for me when I’m there because when I’m home, I also have to focus on my children and my patients.’”  

But at 4 a.m. one August morning, Paton received an email from Rohena written in a much different tone.  

“It said something like, ‘Dr. Paton, the evacuees are coming in from Afghanistan, several thousand a day, and I have more than 200 pregnant patients with no maternity facilities here. Good thing I’m a pediatrician,’” she recollects.  

This stemmed from the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan announced by President Joe Biden three months earlier, which happened sooner than Rohena anticipated.  

During a news conference in March 2021, Biden said he could not picture U.S. troops in Afghanistan next year. He believed that after 20 years, the U.S. accomplished its mission in Afghanistan: to remove the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists from the battlefield and degrade the terrorist threat to the U.S.  

This news terrified many Afghan people – especially women. They feared the Taliban, the predominantly Pashtun nationalist group driven out by U.S. forces more than two decades ago, would return to power. If that happened, women would be stripped of their rights to gain an education and work, and Afghan people who collaborated with the U.S. would face the danger of retaliation and persecution.  

In July 2021, Biden declared, “Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31.” Before that could happen, the Taliban began to capture several of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals and cities, concluding with Kabul on Aug. 15 – completing the group’s swift takeover of the country.  

The following days, the rest of the world watched from behind screens as chaos unfolded at the Kabul airport. In one case, the inside of a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft was packed with about 640 Afghan civilians from all generations pictured solemn and pressed shoulder to shoulder.  

Even more shocking were the images of parents lined in front of the airport fence, handing their babies to U.S. soldiers because they understood that atrocities were imminent. Other families fled to Qatar, which lays just beyond Iran and the Persian Gulf. It not only had the resources to provide assistance to refugees, but also the willingness.  

Rohena had a front-row seat as tens of thousands of Afghan refugees rushed to the safety of Qatar’s borders. 

“I happened to be the only pediatrician at the Army medical clinic,” Rohena explains, “so my job shifted from covering as a brigade surgeon to being a full-time pediatrician for all of the pediatric Afghan refugees.” 

The refugee-laden flights into Qatar seemed unending. Rohena stretched each day, completing his brigade duties in the mornings so he could focus the rest of his attention on pediatric patients.  

The results of his research were published in December 2022, but they have already begun to make a difference. Staff members have implemented numerous changes to the university’s admission criteria, interview and selection process.  

That same month, Rohena graduated in front of his friends and family, many of whom traveled to Lubbock from Oregon, New York and all across Texas to applaud the fact that he not only completed his doctoral degree, but also finished the program early and with a 4.0 GPA.  

At least five members of his cohort followed suit and graduated in their third year.  

“He really inspired them,” Paton says. “There was a phase when they had to advance and finish, and they didn’t get locked up or stop. He really was their emotional leader.” 

She tenderly remembered watching the cohort members congratulate each other through tears of joy as they reflected on their years of work and dedication.  

Rohena blinked away his watery vision until he could clearly see those moments on the Texas Tech campus, which shed light on the achievements and impression he made. He dedicated his degree in memory of his mother and made sure to commend Luna for his critical behind-the-scenes role.  

“I have been able to pursue all of these endeavors because he has taken care of our three children and everything back at home,” he says. “I know that I’m in a specialized area, and despite the deployments and taskings, he has remained my strongest supporter. Throughout my Ph.D. journey, he has been the one who has encouraged me to not lose a beat.” 

Rohena also carried himself with a newfound sense of pride as he was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and was awarded a camouflage stole from Military & Veterans Programs, which he said exemplified and honored the effort he put into completing his doctoral program. 

But it was during the hooding ceremony that Rohena felt particularly touched, as the physical gap that existed throughout his long-distance interactions with Paton finally closed.   

“Even through distance learning, I felt like I knew her as if I was seeing her every single day and she felt like family to me,” he says. “She made it that way.” 

That’s why he carved out a little extra time after his graduation, along with his family, to visit Paton’s office in the College of Education to make sure she understood just how much she impacted his life.   

Enclosed in Rohena’s hand was a 1.5-inch-wide silver coin. One side featured an image of a combat medic kneeling over a wounded soldier, encircled by the words, “Know the Way, Go the Way, Show the Way.” Along the edge of the coin was, “Innovative Education, Combat Health Support, Humanitarian Relief, Compassionate Care.” 

On the flipside was the Brooke Army Medical Center insignia and the caduceus symbol for medicine – words and symbols that were defining principles in Rohena’s life and career, all encased in metal.  

Known as a Brooke Army Medical Center Department of Pediatrics challenge coin, it’s a military tradition that traces back to World War II as a special symbol of unit identity and spirit.  

Over time, senior military leaders give challenge coins as a gift of gratitude or an award of accomplishment to foreign dignitaries or civilian VIPs – not wrapped in a box or a gift bag, though. The presenting of a challenge coin is personal; it’s typically passed through a handshake from the giver to the awardee followed by carefully crafted words of affirmation.  

“It was very ceremonial how he gave it to me,” Paton says. “It was a special recognition and not something I deserved. To be honored in that way was unique and humbling because it’s given out very carefully.” 

A challenge coin gift creates a bond between the giver and the recipient, but Rohena has felt a special connection with Paton ever since that vulnerable email he sent during a time of uncertainty.  

Rohena hoped the token of gratitude would testify to how responsive Paton remained during the regular check-ins she conducted throughout his deployment.  

“She was a great person to decompress with and was instrumental in keeping me on target and focused,” he explains. “For that, I’m forever going to be indebted to her because during a stressful time I had immense assistance and support to continue in the program.” 

Paton has her challenge coin displayed in a plaque in her office, along with artwork from Rohena’s daughters. They are reminders of the difference she can make from the classroom and Rohena's relentless commitment to service.  

“Just watching his course of professional development and contribution back to our nation during that time he was a Ph.D. student was an exceptional experience for me,” says Paton, her voice soft with admiration. 

Rohena still keeps in contact with Paton to this day, updating her on his promotions and continuing to thank her for everything she did for him. She still recommends Rohena and his study as a resource for students covering military topics in their doctoral work. 

Like the pediatric clinic he created in Qatar, the example he set in the College of Education lasted much longer than his enrollment. 

“Luis Rohena has a genuine, pure and beautiful heart,” Paton says. “He’s a leader and model within the military, in academic medicine and certainly within doctoral or graduate education. He’s an extraordinary scholar and there is a lot to learn from him.”