Jean-Robert Bernier

Major-General Jean-Robert Bernier, OMM, CD, QHP, BA, MD, MPH, DEH, DSc(hon), FRCPC(hon) was the 19th Canadian Surgeon General. He is currently the 7th chairman of NATO's committee of Surgeons General.

A native of Sarnia, he was educated at the Royal Military College , McMaster University Medical School, the US Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the Canadian Army Command and Staff College, the Canadian Forces College, and Queen's University's business school. He initially served as an infantry officer with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry before serving as a medical officer in Germany, commanding MacPherson Hospital in Calgary, and undergoing training with US establishments in medical nuclear, biological, and chemical defence, public health, environmental health, and medical intelligence. After serving with the US Defense Intelligence Agency's National Center for Medical Intelligence, he was sequentially the Canadian Armed Forces Head of Operational Medicine, Head of Occupational and Environmental Health, Director Force Health Protection (leading the military public health agency), and Director Health Services Operations at the height of Canadian combat operations in Afghanistan. He was chair or vice-chair of several multi-national intelligence, CBRN defense, and operational committees, and chaired NATO's Health, Medicine, and Protection research committee during his term as Deputy Surgeon General. In 2012, he was appointed Surgeon General, Head of the Royal Canadian Medical Service, Commander of Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Director General Health Services and Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II. In 2015, he was elected Chairman of the committee of Surgeons General of NATO and partner nations, the senior medical adviser to the North Atlantic Alliance. He also serves on the NATO Science and Technology Board, the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and on the boards of the Foundation for Civic Literacy and the Dorchester Review.

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, and an honorary membership in the Royal Canadian Dental Corps. He is a Knight of Malta, an Honorary Graduate of the US Interagency Institute for Federal Healthcare Executives. and was the first graduate of the US federal health sciences university to be appointed a Surgeon General.