Newswise — Bethesda, Md. - The former Commandant of the Department of Defense’s Medical Education and Training Campus in San Antonio, Texas, and more recently, the Military Health System’s Functional Champion, was selected as the senior vice president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences newly-established western region office in San Diego, California. As senior vice president, Roberts is charged with supporting the University’s education and research mission, and developing and fostering strategic partnerships with Military Health System sites throughout the western United States that are key to USU student education.

“I am thrilled and humbled to be joining the USU team in order to support the University’s high-performing, interdisciplinary professionals as they educate and train the Military Health System’s future leaders,” said Roberts, who began his new duties Nov. 1.

“I am very pleased to welcome Dr. William Roberts to the USU senior leadership team. Bill has had a very distinguished career in the Military Health System as a clinician, educator and administrator. He has tremendous experience leading complex organizations and has a strong commitment to our students and our mission. Bill will play a key role in USU's future,” said Dr. Richard Thomas, USU’s President.

A native of Washington D.C., Roberts was raised in Europe while his father served as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. He earned his Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) from Princeton University, his Doctor of Medicine degree from George Washington University, and a Master in Business Administration degree from Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Navy’s Medical Corps in May 1979, completed his surgical internship at the Naval Regional Medical Center, San Diego, and graduated from the University of Chicago Emergency Medicine residency, where he served as chief resident from 1987-1988.

In addition to his last assignments, Roberts’ Navy career included serving as senior medical officer on the USS New Orleans and USS Durham with deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans; clinical and leadership positions at the Naval Station, Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Naval Training Center Clinics in San Diego; and emergency medicine staff tours at Naval Medical Center San Diego and at the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, where he also served as director of Medical Services and as chief of the medical staff. Roberts later served as chair of the Emergency Medicine Ambulatory Care department at the Naval Medical Center San Diego (which comprised the Navy’s first Emergency Medicine residency) and as commanding officer of the Medical Treatment Facility of the USNS Mercy. In 1998, he was appointed deputy commander of the Naval Medical Center San Diego, and subsequently served as the force surgeon to the commander of the Naval Surface Forces in Coronado, California. Roberts’ commanded the Naval Hospital in Bremerton, Washington from 2003 to 2006.

Following a one-year tour as deputy director of the Medical Resources, Plans and Policy Division (OPNAV N931) at the Pentagon, Roberts was promoted to rear admiral and was assigned as the Medical Officer of the Marine Corps from 2007 to 2008. He then returned to the Pentagon and to OPNAV N931, where he served as the director 2008 to 2010, followed by a tour as Fleet Surgeon for the U. S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. Roberts also served as consultant in emergency medicine to the Navy Surgeon General and as chief of the Navy’s Medical Corps. He has been named a “Hero of Emergency Medicine” by the American College of Emergency Physicians and was selected for their “Excellence in Emergency Medicine” Award.

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About the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,500 physician and 700 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University's research program covers a wide range of clinical and basic science important to both the military and public health. For more information, visit www.usuhs.edu.