Richard A. Nelson (born April 4, 1941) is a former

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. He was

Surgeon General of the United States Navy The surgeon general of the Navy (SGN) is the most senior commissioned officer of the Medical Corps of the United States Navy and is the principal advisor to the United States secretary of the navy, chief of naval operations and director of the ...

from 1998 to 2001. Nelson entered the Navy in 1967 and spent a short time at Naval Hospital, Corpus Christi, Texas, then served as senior medical officer at the Naval Ammunition Depot, McAlester, Oklahoma. He also served as a medical officer at Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington, and Head of the Occupational Medicine Branch, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, DC. After an assignment with the Navy Environmental Health Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, he returned to Bremerton as the Director of Occupational and Environmental Health Services and Fleet Liaison Team coordinator for the Naval Regional Medical Center. His other assignments include commanding officer of the Navy Environmental Health Center in Norfolk; Director, Occupational Health and Preventive Medicine Division, and the Deputy Commander for Fleet Readiness and Support at the Naval Medical Command in Washington, DC; and Director of the Health Care Review Division for the Naval Inspector General in Washington, DC. From 1989-1991 he served as Commanding Officer, Naval Hospital, Bremerton. In 1991 he returned to Norfolk where he had three concurrent assignments as Fleet Surgeon, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Command Surgeon, U.S. Atlantic Command, and Medical Advisor, Supreme Allied Command Atlantic. While assigned as Commander, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California from 1993–98, Nelson also was the Lead Agent of TRICARE Region Nine.

References

1941 births Living people Surgeons general of the United States Navy {{US-mil-bio-stub