Dr. David M. Walker was appointed the Network Director for the VA Southeast Network (VISN 7), Duluth, GA, effective July 2021. Before his appointment, he was the Interim Network Director for the VA MidSouth Healthcare Network (VISN 9) since January 2021 and the Director for the GV (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans’ Hospital and Clinics (GVMVAMC) in Jackson, MS, since December 2015.

As Director of the VA Southeast Network, Dr. Walker oversees the third-largest Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) with an allocated budget of $7.9 billion for FY24. In this role, he leads over 21,500 employees, eight healthcare systems comprised of 12 Medical Centers, and 62 Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina, providing coverage for nearly 1.3 million Veterans. VA Southeast Network serves 25 Congressional Districts, 13 Vet Centers, eight State Veterans Homes, three VBA Regional Offices, seven National Cemeteries, and three State Veteran Cemeteries.

Dr. Walker is board certified in Psychiatry and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He has also served as president of the Kentucky Psychiatric Medical Association. Dr. Walker graduated from the military medical school, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and completed a United States Air Force (USAF)/civilian psychiatry training program and a subsequent forensic psychiatry fellowship training program at the University of South Carolina. As a USAF forensic psychiatrist, he helped reestablish the service-wide Wilford Hall Medical Center Air Force Forensic Psychiatry Evaluation Service.

After completing his military service, he served as Clinical Director of Forensic Services for Georgia’s only maximum-security forensic hospital. Dr. Walker also has publications related to military psychiatric topics, including a book chapter published in 2020 on Fitness for Duty in the US Military. From 2001 to 2010, Dr. Walker served five times as a board examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In 2019 Dr. Walker presented at the VA TEDx event on changing culture through commitment management.

Dr. Walker completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, in 1987, a Doctor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, in 1991, and a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) in 2012 at the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.