Dr. Bernard Toney Jr.

Bernard Toney Jr.  transitioned to the National Institutes of Health, NIH, in May 2022 after serving at the White House Medical Unit  for 3 ½ years. He is retiring after 21 years of service in the U.S. Army. He earned a Doctor of Medical Science, DMSc, degree at the University of Lynchburg in 2020 and returned in 2021 as an Adjunct Professor of Global Health. Bernard earned a Master of Physician Assistant Studies in December 2013 and a Bachelor of Science in December 2012 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Currently, he is a Master of Public Health candidate at The George Washington University. He recently completed a graduate certificate in Global Health at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in May 2022. He has traveled to over 26 countries, including low-income countries such as Afghanistan and middle-income countries such as India, and evaluated health systems as a White House Medical Officer around the world. He practiced medicine in South Korea from  2014 to 2015 and again in 2018. He also served as the Baumholder Army Health Clinic Chief Operating Officer for over 13,000 beneficiaries in Baumholder Germany from 2009 to 2010.

Bernard began his formal education in public health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During his service in the White House Medical Unit, he conducted 84 domestic and five overseas missions in support of the President and Vice President. Consequently, he assessed hospital systems and witnessed the social determinants of health that lead to health disparities and inequalities in the United States and worldwide. However, his first global health engagement was during a medical civic action program with villagers in southern Afghanistan in 2005 while serving in U.S. Army Special Operations. He also supported the Global Peace Operations initiative in 2016 and 2017, in which he enhanced international capacity to effectively conduct United Nations and regional peace support operations (PSOs) by building partner country medical capabilities. His goal is to partner with cross-sectoral stakeholders to foster equity and impact the most disenfranchised populations on the margins of society.

Bernard is married to the former Hyunsun Park of South Korea, and they share two beautiful children, Lauren and Logan. Go back