LeCates Promoted To Colonel

In NYS Army National Guard

COOPERSTOWN – Dr. William LeCates, Cooperstown, president of Bassett Hospital, was promoted to colonel in the state’s Army National Guard during a ceremony this morning at the National Guard headquarters in Latham.

LeCates, who joined the New York Army National Guard in 2009, currently serves as the National Guard state surgeon, in addition to his duties as president of Bassett Hospital. As state surgeon, he is chief medical adviser to state Adjutant Gen. Ray Shields.

He also helps oversee the work of 100 New York Army National Guard medical professionals.

LeCates is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan having deployed there twice, and to Liberia in 2015, to help combat tropical and infectious diseases, which included an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

He served as the division surgeon for the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division from 2017 to 2019 and became the state surgeon in January.

His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, the NATO Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terror Service Medal and the Flight Surgeon Badge.

LeCates is a nephrologist, a specialist in kidney diseases and hypertension, who studied at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for ten years, which included a residency and fellowship.

He is also a graduate of Amherst College and worked as an assistant economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before studying medicine.

After graduating, he returned to Cooperstown as a practicing doctor, specializing in internal medicine with a focus on kidney disease. He has worked at Bassett since 2003.