Peters Native Is USNS Comfort Acting Executive Officer

PETERS TOWNSHIP, PA - Peters Native and U.S. Navy Commander Kerry Ann Hudson is the acting executive officer of the USNS Comfort, the huge Navy hospital ship that arrived in New York City Monday. The Comfort will host non-coronavirus patients to relieve the strain on New York's hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The massive ship has 1,000 hospital beds, 12 operating rooms, a blood bank, pharmacy, medical lab, radiology suites, a CT scanner and a helicopter deck, according to the Navy. Its staff usually numbers around 1,100.

The Comfort is nearly 900 feet long and was originally designed for service members injured in combat.

Hudson graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in weapons and systems engineering. She graduated from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences with a doctorate of medicine in 2003. Hudson completed post-graduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, completing residency in 2007. She is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.