Rear Admiral Robyn Margaret Walker
Robyn Margaret Walker was born on 1 July 1959 in Allora, Queensland and qualified as a medical practitioner in 1982. She worked in the public health system in Queensland, Australia until joining the Royal Australian Navy as a direct entry medical graduate in 1991, with the intent to continue her career in diving medicine. Early postings in her career included HMAS Albatross (Naval Air Station - Nowra), the Submarine Escape Training Facility at HMAS Stirling, the Submarine & Underwater Medicine Unit at HMAS Penguin and HMAS Westralia.
In January 1996 Lieutenant Commander Walker assumed the position of Officer in Charge of the Submarine & Underwater Medicine Unit and remained there until her promotion to Commander in July 2000. On promotion she was appointed to Maritime Headquarters as the Deputy Fleet Medical Officer which included significant Sea Training Group responsibilities.
In July 2002 Commander Walker was posted to the Defence Health Service Branch in Canberra as Director of Preventive Health. In January 2003 she was promoted to Captain and in 2004 was appointed as Chief Staff Officer Health (J07) at Headquarters Joint Operations Command. In this position she was responsible for coordinating the health care to ADF personnel operating in Iraq, the Solomon Islands, East Timor and for the Banda Aceh tsunami response.
On 4 July 2005 she took up, on promotion to Commodore, the position of Director General Strategic Health Policy and Plans in the Defence Health Services Division. Commodore Walker was posted to the position of Director General Garrison Health Support within Joint Health Command on 11 August 2008 and to Director General Health Capability on 1 February 2010. Commodore Walker was also dual hatted as the Director General Navy Health Service since August 2008.
Commodore Walker was appointed as a Member in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (AM) on 26 January 2010 for exceptional service as a medical officer in the ADF. She was named as the ACT Telstra White Pages Community and Government Business Woman and overall Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year in September 2011. On 14 December 2011 Robyn Walker was promoted Rear Admiral and assumed the position of Commander Joint Health and Surgeon General Australian Defence Force; thus becoming the RAN's first female Rear Admiral.
Rear Admiral Walker retired from the RAN in December 2015. She is a qualified medical practitioner, a specialist medical administrator, has a Diploma in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is also the author of a number of scientific publications relating to diving medicine and is co-author of a major international diving medicine textbook. She remains an avid recreational diver.
