David Alexander Ph.D.

Education

Postdoctoral Medical Studies in Addiction, University of Florida College of Medicine

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Centre for Trauma, Asylum & Refugees, University of Essex (England)

Post-Graduate Clinical Chaplain Residency, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Master of Theology (M.Th.), Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

Biography

David Alexander is a Captain (O-6) in the Navy Chaplain Corps who holds additional qualification designators as a Fleet Marine Force Chaplain and Marine Corps Static Line Parachutist. Over the course of 20+ years, he has deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Southwest Asia in support of combat operations, and has participated in more than a dozen humanitarian projects and missions on 6 continents.

After finishing theological training in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, he completed a Ph.D. at the Centre for Trauma, Asylum & Refugees at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. His studies, field placement (Republic of Cyprus), and dissertation were all accomplished under the supervision of Professor Renos Papadopoulos. Since 2016, Chaplain Alexander has served as an academic fellow at the University of Essex, participating in research and lecturing on the role of religious actors (and the broader impact of human spirituality) on the refugee experience.

Chaplain Alexander currently serves as the TYCOM Chaplain for Naval Medical Forces Pacific, supervising a team of 35 professionals providing spiritual and psychosocial support to medical forces serving on the American West Coast and in locations throughout INDOPACOM. At USUHS he is involved in writing and research consultation related to the impact of spirituality on human performance under adversity.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

Member, NATO Science and Technology Exploratory Team on Spirituality and Health, 2022-2023.

Member, NATO Science and Technology Task Team (352) on Psychological Direction for Leaders, 2021-2023.

Senior Visiting Fellow in Religion & Inclusive Societies, United States Institute of Peace, 2021-2023.

Deputy for Strategic Religious Affairs, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2022-2023.

Research Program Manager and Principal Investigator, Spirituality & Human Performance Team, Consortium for Health & Military Performance, 2019-2022.

Co-Principal Investigator, University of Essex (Centre for Trauma, Asylum & Refugees) Project on Refugee Care in the Pacific Rim. Funded by ESRC-UK. 2015-2022.

Clinical Pastoral Counselor (NC-00119), State of North Carolina , 2022-present.

Clinical Pastoral Education Training Supervisor-Educator, Clinical Pastoral Education International, 2013-present.

Diplomate, American Association of Pastoral Counselors, 2013-2019.

Board Certified Chaplain, Association of Professional Chaplains, 2007-2013.

Representative Bibliography

Alexander, D, and Letovaltseva, T. "Psychosocial workers and indigenous religious leaders: an integrated vision for collaboration in humanitarian crisis response." Religions, 14(802), 2023, 1-12.

Letovaltseva, T, Vandenhoeck, and Alexander, D. “Developing a Spiritual Care Concept and a Spiritual Fitness Program for Belgian Defense." International Review of the Armed Forces Medical Services, Vol. 96, No 1, October 2023, 2-11.

Alexander, D, and Deuster, P. “Aligning and Assessing Core Attributes of Spiritual Fitness for Optimizing Human Performance.” Journal of Special Operations Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 1, March 2021, 74-77.

Alexander, D, Abulhawa, Z, and Kazman, J. “The SOCOM Spiritual Fitness Scale: Measuring ‘Vertical’ and ‘ Horizontal’ Spirituality in the Human Performance Domain.” Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, Vol. 74, No. 4, November 2020, 269-279.

Alexander, D. “Walking Together in Exile: Medical Moral Injury and the Clinical Chaplain.” Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, Vol. 74, No. 2, June 2020, 82-90.

Alexander, D. “From Theory to Impact: Expanding the Role of Non-Psychiatric Moral Injury Theorists in Direct Veteran Care.” Moral Injury and Beyond: Understanding Human Anguish and Healing Traumatic Wounds. R. K. Papadopoulos, Ed. Routledge Press (New York), April 2020.

Alexander, D. “When Seeing Does Harm: Avoiding Common Epistemological Dangers in Contemporary Refugee Research.” Journal of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, June 2019, 5-9.

Alexander, D. “Shay’s Thymos and Homer’s Thymos: How a Failure in Cross-Contextual Vigilance Has Limited the Contemporary Moral Injury Discourse.” Sophia Philosophical Review, Vol. XI, No. 2, Fall 2018, 41-56.

Alexander, D. “Defining and Differentiating Moral Injury’s Key Features.” Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Research, Vol. 3, No. 3, October 2018, 6-11.

Alexander, D. “Gregory is My Friend: on the Absorption of Evil in Combat.” War & Moral Injury: A Reader. Wipf & Stock Publishing Group (Eugene, OR), April 2018, 197-207.