Deputy Commander

CAPT Guillermo Pimentel, PhD, MSC, USN
Deputy Commander
Naval Medical Research Command, Silver Spring, Maryland

CAPT Guillermo “Billy” Pimentel, a native of Puerto Rico, started his military career in the US Navy Reserve as a Hospital Corpsman in 1988. A veteran of the Persian Gulf War I, he completed his enlisted service in 1996. He received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Microbiology and a Master of Science in
Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. He completed his PhD in Plant Pathology from Washington State University in 1999. In July 1999, he obtained his commission as a Lieutenant. His first duty station was as Department Head of the Microbiology Department at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA.

From 2003-2010, he served in multiple leadership positions at the Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-EURAFCENT these days) in Egypt. In these roles, CAPT Pimentel led research projects with efforts of implementing and strengthening laboratory-based disease surveillance capabilities in the Middle East, Central Asia, Former Soviet Union countries, North Africa, and West Africa. In collaboration with interagency partners, he led research and surveillance studies aimed to understand the epidemiology of infectious diseases of military importance in the EUCOM, CENTCOM and AFRICOM. He provided support during several highly pathogenic H5N1 flu outbreaks in West Africa and Central Asia. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, he led the NAMRU-3 outbreak support to forces deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and partner nations.

In 2010, he reported to the Biological Defense Research Directorate (BDRD) at the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC). As program administrator for the International Field Microbiology group, he worked in several projects for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. In 2011, he was selected as BDRD Deputy Director overseeing the Navy Medicine expeditionary mobile laboratories and production of detection assays widely used by the Department of Defense and other US Federal Government agencies. In support of Operation United Assistance, he led the deployment of two Navy mobile laboratories for detection of the Ebola Virus during the epidemic in Liberia.

In August 2015, CAPT Pimentel reported to the Naval Medical Research Unit-6 (NAMRU-South these days) in Lima, Peru as Executive Officer. In March 2017, he took command of NAMRU-6. From Jul 2019 to Jul 2022, he served as the Chief of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) Branch at the Defense Health Agency leading the DoD global infectious disease surveillance network in support of Force Health Protection for the Geographic Combatant Commands. On August 2023 he was appointed as the Director of BDRD. In April 2025, he was assigned as Deputy Commander of NMRC supporting 7 medical research laboratories worldwide.

His personal awards include the Legion of Merit, Joint Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy & Marines Meritorious Service Medal (4), Navy & Marines Commendation Medal (3), Navy & Marines Achievement Medal.