Dr. Alan L. Beitler, M.D.

Dr. Alan Beitler is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Keller Army Community Hospital (KACH) volunteer surgeon and cadet health professions advisor in the Office of the Dean. He is a general surgeon and surgical oncologist with over 35 years of service in the military and VA healthcare systems. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1977 and served as an infantry officer in the United States and Italy. He earned his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine, completed an internship and residency in general surgery at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Colorado, and did a fellowship in surgical oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

COL (Ret) Beitler was stationed at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington and West Point’s Keller Army Community Hospital (KACH) as a surgeon, service chief and surgery department chief. He worked in Forward Surgical Teams (FSTs), Combat Support Hospitals (CSHs) and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), deploying to Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti. He served two tours in Afghanistan, with an FST and as commander of the 48th CSH.

Following his retirement from the Army, Dr. Beitler worked in the Veterans Administration – New Jersey Healthcare System as the chief of general surgery, chief of the department of surgery and associate professor of surgery at Rutgers University. In September 2017, he returned to West Point, where he currently serves.

He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Oncology. In addition to his military service, he has participated in humanitarian medical missions in East and West Africa, South and Central America and Haiti. He is married to Ruth Margolies Beitler, a professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy. They have two daughters, Eliyana and Hannah.