Navy Medicine > Naval Medical Research Command > R&D Commands > Naval Medical Research Unit SOUTH > NAMRU SOUTH Leadership

CDR Brian L. Pike, MSC, USN
Executive Officer
U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit SOUTH
Callao, Peru

Commander Brian L. Pike, a native of Virginia, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the US Navy in 2011. He completed his bachelor's degree in biology from Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee in 1995. Subsequently, Commander Pike earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry & molecular biology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California in 2006, followed by a master’s degree in public health from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 2007.

Commander Pike began his Navy career as a staff scientist within the Infectious Diseases Directorate at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in Silver Spring, Maryland in 2011. In 2013, he was assigned to NMRC-Asia in Singapore and led the Navy’s investigations into endemic and emergent infectious diseases throughout Southeast Asia as the Department Head of Emerging Infectious Diseases. From 2017 through 2019, he served as the Deputy Director for the Advanced and Emerging Threat Division at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he helped to guide the Department of Defense’s research priorities in combating the threat posed by chemical and biological weapons. In June 2019, he became the Head of the Operations for the Biological Defense Research Directorate at NMRC in Fredrick, Maryland, a position from which he was deployed to the Pacific in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following his deployment, Commander Pike was hand-selected for two rotations at the Pentagon between 2020 and 2022. He first served as the Deputy Medical Director of the Chemical and Biological Defense Program in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense, and later, as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. Following his time at the Pentagon, he served as the Deputy Science Director at the Naval Medical Research Command, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Commander Pike began his tour as the Executive Officer of U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit – South, in Lima, Peru, in June of 2024.

Commander Pike’s personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (five awards), the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Armed Forces Service Medal. He was also honored as the Navy’s Microbiologist of the Year in 2020. He is a graduate of the Naval War College’s Naval Command & Staff Program and a past fellow of the National Defense University. Commander Pike has also authored more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts on topics ranging from cancer genetics to infectious disease epidemiology.

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