Commander

Alton L. Stocks
Rear Admiral, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy
Commander, National Capital Area
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Born in Baltimore, Rear Admiral Stocks comes from a family with careers in medicine and the military.

Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in  1972, Stocks completed the Navy’s Nuclear Power Training and Submarine School prior to serving on USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN 619) and USS Long Beach (CGN 9).

Stocks transferred his commission to the medical corps and received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Upon completion of his pediatric residency and tenure as chief resident at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Va., he served two years as the head of pediatrics, U.S. Naval Hospital Rota, Spain. He then studied pediatric nephrology for three years at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla., where he instituted the prenatal hydronephrosis program and published his research in the Journal of Urology. At Naval Medical Center San Diego, he served as the director of medical services, head of pediatric nephrology and the transitional intern program director. In 1997 he was selected as the Pediatric Department Teacher of the Year. He then served as executive officer of the U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella, Italy, from 2000 to 2003. In March 2003, Stocks assumed command of Naval Hospital Corpus Christi and its clinics in Fort Worth, Ingleside and Kingsville, Texas. In July 2005, he served as the Naval Forces Europe and 6th Fleet surgeon and deployed aboard USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) as the Joint Task Force (JTF) Lebanon surgeon. In October 2007, he served as the U.S. Fleet Forces fleet surgeon and deployed as the Joint Task Force Haiti surgeon in January 2010. In May 2010, he assumed command of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Navy Medicine East. He remains active as an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and member of Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society.

His personal awards include the Legion of Merit (4), Defense Meritorious Service medal, Meritorious Service medal, Joint Service Commendation medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon (7) and is designated as a surface warfare medical officer.

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