RADM MATTHEW E. KLEIMAN, MSW

Assistant US Surgeon General
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

RADM Matthew Kleiman is an Assistant U.S. Surgeon General and the senior uniformed behavioral health official in the US Public Health Service, advising the Assistant Secretary of Health and US Surgeon General on a broad array of public health matters.

RADM Kleiman is presently assigned to the DOD as a senior executive within the National Guard Bureau (NGB), serving as the Joint Director of Psychological Health and Special Advisor to NGB-J1. In this role, he provides strategic oversight to an enterprise-wide system for psychological health, readiness and resilience for approximately 440,000 National Guard members and their families. Additionally, he helps to shape and inform prevention and resilience strategies across the Army and Air National Guard and provides executive-level guidance for psychological health program matters at every level.

RADM Kleiman was previously detailed to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for six years, where he served as the USCG Chief of Behavioral Health Services at their Headquarters Office in DC. Past assignments include: Principal Advisor on Resilience and Behavioral Health for the Office of Health Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), developing behavioral health guidelines across DHS; National Mental Health Coordinator for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responsible for coordinating the mental health care for all detained undocumented migrants in the United States; Emergency Response Operations at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Secretary, coordinating HHS disaster response efforts for large scale emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to transferring to the US Public Health Service, RADM Kleiman was a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, where he provided a broad array of direct behavioral health clinical services to Airmen and their families at multiple duty locations. He has a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee, received his Master of Social Work degree from the University of Georgia, and is a licensed clinical social worker and board certified diplomat.