Beverly Crusher

Beverly Crusher was a renowned Starfleet Medical officer in the 24th century. She is famous for her years of service as Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise-D and USS Enterprise-E.

Childhood
Dr. Beverly Crusher was born as Beverly Howard in Copernicus City on Earth's moon on October 13, 2324. Her ancestry is from North America, although her distant ancestors hail from Scotland. While Beverly was still a young child, both of her parents were killed. She was raised by her grandmother, Felisa Howard, whom Beverly referred to as "Nana", who was born into the noble Howard family, themselves related to the English Dukes of Norfolk.

Both Howards were present during the terrible disaster at the Arvada III colony, and it was during this time Felisa learned how to use herbs and roots for medicinal purposes after regular medical supplies had been exhausted. This inspired Beverly to a career in medicine. Beverly and Felisa later moved to the Caldos colony, where Felisa became a healer until her death in 2370.

Starfleet Medical School
Beverly was admitted to the Starfleet Medical School in 2342. During this time, she became romantically involved with Jack Crusher after being introduced by their mutual friend, Walker Keel. It took months for her to realize their attraction. The two were married in 2348 after Jack proposed to her through a gag gift, a book entitled How to Advance Your Career Through Marriage.

Jack later served aboard the USS Stargazer under Picard, and the couple became good friends with the captain. Picard later admitted he had fallen in love with Beverly, but did not act on his feelings because he felt doing so would betray his friend.

The Crushers welcomed a son, Wesley Crusher, in 2348.

Starfleet Medical
Beverly graduated from Starfleet Medical School in 2350, and interned with Dr. Dalen Quaice on Delos IV in 2352.

Jack died on an away mission while serving aboard the USS Stargazer in 2354. Picard brought Jack's body home to the grieving Beverly and Wesley. He also accompanied her to see Jack's body in the morgue at Starbase 32. Beverly appreciated the gesture despite the fact that Picard felt it would be better for her to remember him alive rather than as a corpse. Beverly never fully recovered from his death.

USS Enterprise-D
Dr. Crusher was appointed Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise-D in 2364, and joined the ship at Farpoint Station with her son, reporting on board on stardate 41154. Picard initially had reservations about her presence, but she assured him that the past would have no effect on her duties and she had no problem serving under his command.

Crusher was offered a position as head of Starfleet Medical in 2365 and left the Enterprise during that year. She was replaced by Dr. Katherine Pulaski. While at Starfleet Medical, she worked with the notorious Lieutenant Commander Calvin Hutchinson. Crusher found it difficult to be away, however, and decided to return to the ship the following year.

The Enterprise-D was destroyed in 2371 following a crash landing of the saucer section on the planet Veridian III. Although there were no fatalities, there were many wounded, which kept Crusher quite busy.

USS Enterprise-E
She transferred to the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise-E the following year. Her command abilities were put to good use during the ship's near assimilation by the Borg during its trip to the year 2063, where she served as temporary Executive Officer during the crisis. Even though she was not fond of the Emergency Medical Hologram, she successfully used it as a decoy to keep the Borg distracted while the sickbay staff and patients made it to relative safety.

In 2375, Crusher was part of the diplomatic contingent welcoming the Evora as a protectorate into the Federation. She also aided Captain Picard in his struggle to keep the Ba'ku from being relocated by the Son'a, and was the first to realize that both species were of the same race. During the Ba'ku exodus, Chief Counselor Deanna Troi noted that her breasts were starting to "firm up" due to the effects of the planet's metaphasic radiation.

In 2375, Crusher worked with Dr. Julian Bashir on starbase Deep Space Nine when the Dominion engineered a virus that targeted Vulcans. The cure was found after consulting the notes of a 22nd century Starfleet doctor named Phlox.

Crusher briefly left the Enterprise in 2379 to again serve as head of Starfleet Medical when she was captured on the planet Kevratas by the Romulan Sela. She was listed as "Missing: Presumed Dead", but Picard did not believe this to be the case. Picard and two other former USS Stargazer crew members "Pug" Joseph and Dr. Carter Greyhorse traveled to Kevratas and mounted a rescue. Upon her rescue, Picard finally revealed the depths of his feelings for Crusher. Soon after, Crusher left Starfleet Medical and returned to the Enterprise and began a romantic relationship with Picard.

Mrs. Picard
In late 2380, Doctor Crusher married Jean-Luc Picard. They decided that Beverly would keep her married name to Jack Crusher as not to cause confusion.

In 2382, Crusher was promoted to the rank of Captain and was once again offered to head Starfleet Medical. She accepted the transfer reluctantly, knowing that at that time Starfleet Medical was experiencing a leadership crisis. She promised her husband, however, that she would request for a transfer to wherever Picard was as soon as the crisis was over.

USS Invincible & USS Provider
Crusher got her wish on 2385 when Picard was chosen to assume command of the Invincible class Fleet Carrier-Heavy Battleship prototype USS Invincible, the war-time flagship of Starfleet, as she applied for and received a transfer onboard her as the Chief Medical Officer. She also received dispensation to choose who her two Assistant Chief Medical Officers would be. She immediately requested for the transfer of Dr. Julian Bashir and Dr. Selar onboard the Invincible.

In addition to her new position as CMO of the Invincible, Crusher was also made concurrent Commanding Officer of the Hope class Medical Cruiser USS Provider and Task Force Provider which was the primary logistics unit of Vanguard Command. But because majority of her time would be onboard the Invincible, command of the Provider and her task force fell on the shoulders of Crusher's Executive Officer, Commander Lance McCoy, MD. McCoy was not only an exceptional medical practitioner, he was also an experienced Starfleet bridge officer with specializations in engineering and operations.