LCDR Kyle Bandermann, Ph.D, USN

Kyle M. Bandermann is a native of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (With Honors) from the University of Missouri, graduating in 2007. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee in 2014. He completed fellowship training in Clinical Psychopharmacology and was awarded a Postdoctoral Master’s Degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2018. He is a 2022 graduate of the Naval War College Command and Staff program. 

Bandermann entered Naval service through the Navy Psychology Internship Program in 2013. After completing Officer Development School in Newport, Rhode Island, he reported to residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he completed his American Psychological Association Internship in Clinical Psychology. In 2014, Bandermann transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Guam where he served as a Staff Psychologist. In 2016, LT Bandermann became dual-hatted as the first Undersea Mental Health Officer serving Commander, Submarine Squadron FIFTEEN, homeported in Guam. There, he piloted the Navy’s first forward-deployed submarine embedded mental health program, improving mental health readiness for some of the Navy’s most dynamically deployed Sailors. In 2018, Bandermann transferred to USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) as the first Medical and Prescribing Psychologist stationed afloat. On board CVN 71, Bandermann served as the Division Officer for Mental Health and the Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program (SARP) and as the sole mental health provider for 7000 service members of Carrier Air Wing ELEVEN and the ships of Carrier Strike Group NINE on a high visibility Western Pacific deployment amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, LCDR Bandermann transferred to Bahrain, where he led a variety of clinic and embedded assets as the senior-most naval mental health provider in the Area of Operations, serving as the Department Head of Behavioral Health for U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit at Naval Branch Health Clinic, Bahrain and the Installation Director of Psychological Health for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and FIFTH Fleet.

In 2023, LCDR Bandermann reported to the United States Naval Academy’s Midshipmen Development Center to exchange knowledge with the world’s premier leaders. Additionally, he serves as an Assistant Specialty Leader to the Navy Surgeon General, representing the Clinical Psychology specialty. He is a Medical and Prescribing Psychologist credentialed through the Department of Defense, serving as one of only four of these medical subspecialists in the Department of the Navy. His personal awards are a reflection of teamwork with incomparable shipmates and selfless leaders, and include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Overseas Service Medal (five awards), and a qualification as a Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer. He was selected as the Navy Junior Psychologist of the Year for 2017. He is the author of more than 50 book chapters, academic journal articles, and invited presentations on psychopharmacology, military psychology, and multicultural diversity.