Colonel Henk van der Wal is a senior military leader, healthcare administrator, and researcher who has served in the Dutch military healthcare for over 37 years. He has been mostly active in the acute care environment, where he has served as Command Surgeon of the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force and as Commanding Officer, responsible for the operational surgical capabilities of the Dutch Armed Forces. In 2021, Colonel van der Wal was deployed with the NATO Mission in Iraq as the lead strategic advisor on training systems and management to the Iraqi Deputy Chief of Staff for Training. His expertise extends beyond military healthcare leadership to include strategic advisory roles, change management and health systems management. He currently leads the Civil-Military Centre of Expertise for Trauma Care, a collaboration between the Dutch Ministry of Defence and the University Medical Center Utrecht. Colonel van der Wal is completing his PhD at the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, entitled 'Value-Based Military Healthcare: Enhancing Health Outcomes for the Military Patient', and he leads a NATO Research Task Group conducting research into the adoption of value-based healthcare across NATO military health systems.