Deputy Commander

Captain Shelley K. Perkins
Deputy Commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic

Capt. Shelley K. Perkins, a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduated from Whittier College with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and then attended Tulane Medical School in New Orleans through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. She completed internship in surgery at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda and then flight surgery training in Pensacola, Florida. 

Operationally, she served as a flight surgeon with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 261 at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina and deployed for a 6-months aboard Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and participated in multiple exercises with the wing. She deployed to Iraq twice as a general surgeon in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with both the 1st and 2nd Medical Battalion, and she also deployed with 1st Medical Logistics Battalion to Helmand Province, Afghanistan as the chief of professional services in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ashore, she has served in various positions throughout Navy Medicine to include department head of general surgery and assistant director of surgical services, Naval Hospital Camp LeJeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina; department head of general surgery, chair of the executive committee of the medical staff and the director of surgical services, Naval Hospital Okinawa; teaching faculty for the General Surgery Residency Program, Naval Medical Center San Diego; executive officer, Naval Medical Center Camp LeJeune; commanding officer, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, California; commanding officer of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Portsmouth and director, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia. 

Perkins assumed duties as deputy commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic on April 21, 2023.  

Her professional activities include being a board-certified physician in general surgery, fellowship trained in breast surgical oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and an assistant professor of the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences (USUHS). 

Her personal awards include a Legion of Merit, three Meritorious Service Medals, two Navy Commendation medals, in addition to campaign medals, deployment and unit awards.