Rear Adm. Roberts was promoted to his current rank, Dec. 1, 2011. He currently serves as the commandant, Medical Education and Training Campus, in San Antonio, and as the deputy chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), Education and Training (M7).

A native of Washington, D.C., he was raised in Europe while his father served as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. He graduated from the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., where he was class valedictorian and earned his bachelor of arts (cum laude) from Princeton University in 1975. He completed his doctor of medicine in 1979 at the George Washington University where he was class president for both his junior and senior years. His four years of medical school were under the auspices of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.

Roberts was commissioned a lieutenant in the Navy Medical Corps in May 1979 and completed his surgical internship at the Naval Regional Medical Center, San Diego. Subsequent tours included: senior medical officer aboard USS New Orleans (LPH 11) and USS Durham (LKA 114), with two deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, followed by an assignment to Naval Medical Clinic, San Diego, where he served as the senior medical officer at Naval Station and as clinic director at both Naval Training Center and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

He matriculated into the University of Chicago Emergency Medicine residency, serving as chief resident during his last year of training. Upon completion of residency in 1988, Roberts was assigned as staff and faculty emergency physician at Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he held positions as senior watch officer, quality assurance director, and associate residency program director. In 1991, he received orders to U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam, as chief of the medical staff and director of medical services.

He returned to Naval Medical Center San Diego, in October 1993 as assistant chairman, Emergency Medicine Ambulatory Care Department, and became chairman one year later. In March 1995, the Navy Surgeon General selected him as specialty leader for Emergency Medicine and, in August 1995, he received additional orders as commanding officer, Medical Treatment Facility, USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). He subsequently served as deputy commander, Naval Medical Center San Diego, from August 1998 until November 2001, with additional duty as assistant chief of staff for medical reporting to Commander, Navy Region Southwest.

From November 2001 until May 2003, he was assigned as force surgeon for Commander, Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, in Coronado, Calif., and then as commanding officer, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., from June 2003 until May 2006.

Following a one-year tour as deputy director, Medical Resources, Plans and Policy Division (OPNAV N931), his first flag assignment was as medical officer of the Marine Corps from July 2007 to September 2008. He was then assigned as director, OPNAV N931, at the Pentagon, as well as chief of the Navy Medical Corps. His most recent assignment was at the United States Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., as the fleet surgeon.

Roberts' awards include: the Legion of Merit (five awards), Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

He earned a master's degree in business administration from Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh, Scotland, in November 1999.

In 2008, he was named a "Hero of Emergency Medicine" on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and in 2008 he was selected for the "Excellence in Emergency Medicine" Award by the military chapter of ACEP.