William P. Butler, MD, MTM&H, FACS, FAsMA, Colonel (retired), USAF, MC, CFS served with distinction
for nearly three decades around the world. Dr. Butler began his career as a general surgeon, but soon
transitioned to the duties and responsibilities of a flight surgeon and never looked back. Among his
assignments: Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship Director and Chief of Clinical Operations at Brooks AFB,
Texas; Squadron Commander at Lackland AFB, Texas; part of the faculty at the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Deputy Medical Group Commander at Kadena
AB, Okinawa; Theater Validating Flight Surgeon at Al Udeid AB, Qatar; and Director, Institutional Review
Board, Air Force Research Laboratory, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
His accomplishments are too numerous to list, but just the research he conducted and the procedures
he defined for the aeromedical evacuation and movement of patients set the standard for the United
States Central Command and are still in use today, having saved thousands of lives in the years since.
Further evidence of his passion and dedication was his election as Fellow in the Aerospace Medical
Association, an honor bestowed upon those members of the association “who have made outstanding
contributions to aerospace medicine, aeronautics, astronautics, undersea medicine, or environmental
health, in the practical usage of research, or by precept and example.”
Dr. Butler continues to do research, has been published numerous times, and remains a champion of
aviation.