Dr Neil Westphalen

Dr Neil Westphalen graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1985, was appointed to the full-time RAN in 1987 and transferred to the Australian Naval Reserve in 2016. His postgraduate medical qualifications include Fellowships of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (1996), the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine or AFOEM (2006), and the Australasian College of Aerospace Medicine (2009). He also has a Diploma of Aviation Medicine via King’s College London (1997) and a Master of Public Health from Curtin University (2004). From a non-medical perspective, he is an RAN Staff College graduate (1996) and completed a history PhD via UNSW Canberra in 2025, entitled ‘Constant Care: health support for Australian naval operations 1901-1976’.

Commander Westphalen’s seagoing service included Swan, Stalwart, Success, Sydney, Perth, Manoora and Choules, during which he undertook DAMASK VII, RIMPAC 1996, TANAGER (ashore), RELEX II, GEMSBOK, TALISMAN SABRE 2007 and RENDER SAFE 2014. His clinical roles ashore included Cerberus and Penguin, thence Kuttabul, Albatross, Stirling and the Submarine and Underwater Medicine Unit—West as Senior Medical Officer. Staff positions included Director Health at what became Joint Operations Command, Director Navy Occupational and Environmental Health, Director of Navy Health, Staff Officer 1 Medical Employment Classification Advisory and Review Services, and Fleet Medical Officer. On transferring to the reserve, Commander Westphalen undertook various health-related staff roles for Exercise KAKADU 16, the Director-General Navy Safety and Environment Policy Coordination, the Navy Personnel Career Management Agency, and Joint Health Command.

Neil has been a NSG member since 2021. In addition, hel has been a member of the Australasian Military Medical Association (AMMA) since 1991, was its treasurer from 2008 to 2010, and was the Graeme Shirtley Oration keynote speaker at its 2025 annual conference. He also regularly contributes to AMMA’s Journal of Military and Veteran’s Health on a range of naval medical history and ADF policy topics.  He was a member of the AFOEM Policy and Advocacy Committee from 2016 to 2020 and again since 2022, and has been on the AFOEM Council since 2025.

Areas of Interest

Naval and military general and health (Including submarine, underwater, aviation and CBRN) history.