CAPTAIN AARON D. WERBEL, Ph.D.

Commanding Officer, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Lemoore
United States Navy

 A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Captain Aaron Werbel received his Bachelor of Science with honors in psychology from the University of Michigan (1988), and a Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from Michigan State University (1993, 1997). He completed his pre-doctoral clinical internship at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland in 1997.

Werbel served on the board of directors of the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he was the director for behavioral health leading a team of over 200 staff in 14 inpatient, outpatient and partial hospitalization clinics. He was the behavioral health market service leader for the National Capitol Region-Medical Directorate facilitating standardized processes and access to care for beneficiaries in 81 clinics across 17 medical treatment facilities (MTF) in the region. He also represented the Defense Health Agency Large Markets on the Military Health System’s Behavioral Health Clinical Community implementing the principles of high reliability organizations to behavioral health in the Department of Defense Healthcare Network.

Werbel served as the chief of staff, Healthcare Operations (N3), Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) where he led a staff of 270 to ensure smooth operations in Navy Medicine’s 27 MTFs, directing policy development to guide 63,000 providers in their care for over 2.7 million beneficiaries worldwide. During this tour he also served as the interim assistant deputy chief BUMED and the Navy liaison officer to the DHA governance system in support of the Navy surgeon general and deputy surgeon general. Past assignments included: director, Midshipmen Development Center, United States Naval Academy; acting senior medical officer and ship’s psychologist, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69); behavioral health affairs officer, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps (Manpower & Reserve Affairs), Quantico, Virginia; department head, mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation program, U.S. Naval Hospital, Naples, Italy; and staff psychologist, mental health and internal medicine HIV/AIDS clinic, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Previously, Captain Werbel assumed the duties of executive officer, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Twentynine Palms and deputy director, Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms in September 2021. Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms is a community hospital that supports the largest U.S. Marine Corps training base in the world, it occupies 1,100 square miles in the Mojave Desert.

September 8, 2023, Capt. Werbel assumed command of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Lemoore.