Rob van Hulst was born (1957) and raised in the Netherlands, he is married and has one son. He has been a scuba diver since 1977, is a CMAS three-star instructor and has logged more
than 1,000 dives.
Rob graduated MD from the University of Groningen in 1984 and joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1985. After two years sailing on Navy ships and being a GP on board the RNLN diving vessels, he started a two-year training programme as a diving and submarine medical officer, which includes practical training in military diving and courses in Toronto (DDRC, Canada) and Panama City, USA. Having finished the military staff course in 1992 and acting as Commanding Officer, UN Mission Field Hospital in Cambodia (1993), he became the Director of Diving and Submarine Medicine, RNLN. Since that time, he has been a member of the DMAC and EDTC. In 2003, he completed his PhD in neuro-anesthesiology, studying cerebral air embolism in an animal model.
Since 2007, he has been the Director of the Maritime Medical Expertise Center/Diving Medical Center and was promoted to Captain (Navy). He has been responsible for the training and education in the Netherlands of more than 100 occupational physicians for performing diving medicals and about 20 military DMO/SMOs.
After his retirement from the Navy in October 2013, he will continue his work at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam (Boerema Chamber) as Head of Research, Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine. Meanwhile, he will continue to act as a consultant for the RNLN and some commercial diving companies. Other hobbies, as well as scuba diving, include wine, running, photography (not underwater) and martial arts.