Lt Col. Josh Tyler, an active-duty U.S. Air Force colorectal and general surgeon at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, is the chief of colon and rectal surgery and director of robotic surgery. He started the Air Force’s first DaVinci Xi robotic surgery program. He serves as the colorectal surgery consultant to the US Air Force Surgeon General, and was recently named Chair of the Robotic Surgery Steering Committee for the Defense Health Agency, overseeing robotic surgery throughout the Department of Defense.
Dr. Tyler is the founder and director of the Institute for Defense Robotic Surgical Education (InDoRSE), a joint enterprise between the Department of Defense and Intuitive Surgical. It serves as a teaching facility for all Department of Defense and Veteran’s Affairs surgeons and is the only such facility in the nation. He also has a volunteer civilian practice serving the local nonmilitary population as the only colorectal surgeon in Mississippi, and he serves as director of robotic surgery at Merit Health Biloxi.
Dr. Tyler received the 2017 USAF Air Education and Training Command Field Grade Officer Award for Clinical Excellence. He was named a Notable Nole and received the Reuben O’D. Askew Young Alumni Award from the FSU Alumni Association in 2016. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
During his time at FSU, Dr. Tyler served as director of Health Concerns for the Student Government Association and as president of Phi Delta Theta. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Seminole Torchbearers, Air Force ROTC and Burning Spear.
Dr. Tyler has been married to his wife, Julie (B.A. ’01), for 17 years. They have four children: Drew, Luke, Blake and Austen. He is a life member of the FSU Alumni Association, a member of Seminole Boosters and a member of the FSU Foundation’s President’s Club. He also serves on the board of directors for Seminole Torchbearers.
