Jean-Robert Bernier OMM is a Canadian military physician who served as the 38th Canadian Surgeon General[1][2][3][4] and chief medical adviser to the North Atlantic Alliance as the 7th chairman of NATO's Committee of Chiefs of Military Medical Services (COMEDS).
Upon RMC graduation in 1982 with an honours BA in History, he was commissioned in Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, commanded rifle and anti-armour platoons and served as assistant and acting adjutant with the Third Battalion in Victoria, instructed at the PPCLI Battle School in Wainwright and the Infantry School in Gagetown, and served on the Operations Staff of 1 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters in Calgary.
After serving with the US Defense Intelligence Agency's National Center for Medical Intelligence at Fort Detrick, he served as the Canadian Armed Forces Head of Operational Medicine, chaired the Canada-UK-US CBRN Medical Countermeasures Coordinating Committee and the Australia-Canada-UK-US Medical Intelligence Analysts Working Group, and was vice-chair of NATO's Biomedical Defence Advisory Committee.
In 2015, he was unanimously elected Chairman of the committee of Surgeons General of NATO and partner nations, serving as the principal medical adviser to the North Atlantic Alliance and the Alliance medical community’s representative on the NATO Science and Technology Board until the end of 2018.
[15][16][17] He was awarded the Royal Military College History Prize, the United States Army Medical Department Center and School Commanding General's Award, an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Queen's University, the Order of Military Merit, an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, election to the US national honour society in Public Health, an honorary membership in the Royal Canadian Dental Corps, and a NATO Science and Technology Organization Award of Excellence.