Rob van der Meer

After enrolling in the Royal Netherlands Army, he graduated from the Free University Amsterdam as a physician in 1981.

He served as a medical officer with the 12th Armoured Brigade, the 1st Army Corps Logistic Command, and as commander of the 131st Heavy Surgical Field Hospital Company before training as a staff officer at the General Staff College and as a public health physician at the Institute for Social Health Care in Utrecht.

He then contributed to or led several strategic health system reform initiatives as a staff officer or as chief of the Army Surgeon General's Medical Policy Branch.

During his term, he spent several months as commander of all Dutch forces deployed in Afghanistan.

He was made a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and awarded the Honorary Medal of the Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers (CIOMR).