Dr Dan Pronk

With years of medical and military experience, Dr Dan Pronk has become a leading expert within the medical field. He continues to share his knowledge on resilience with his new book The Resilience Shield.

Dr Pronk completed a Bachelor of Exercise Science at Griffith University in 1999, and later graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery at Flinders University in 2004 with an Army Scholarship. He gained experience in the field at Flinders Medical Centre before completing his FRACGP in 2011. 

In 2007, Dr Pronk was first posted to his Army unit in Darwin as a Regimental Medical Officer, and then as a 5 RAR the year after. He continued to serve in the military until 2013, having been deployed on five occasions with the Army, once in Timor and the remainder in Afghanistan. Representing the Australian Army at the NATO Special Operations Forces Medical Expert Panel, Dr Pronk took a particular interest in the pre-hospital management of penetrating trauma. 

After being discharged from the Army, Dr Pronk would continue his studies with an MBA through University of South Australia. Dr Pronk also completed Early Management of Severe Trauma training from the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, and has been instructing since September 2015. 

Dr Pronk would continue to bring his expertise to the field, having worked in Occupational Medicine at BHBP’s South Australian Olympic dam mine, as a Deputy Medical Superintendent in regional Queensland and a Medical Director of the South Australian Prison Health Service. He would also complete his Associate Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators.

Currently, he maintains his clinical medicine through work in ED and surgical assisting. He is also passionate about applying his knowledge in tactical medicine to various police and government agencies as a tactical medical consultant. 

Inspired by his own experiences in the field, Dr Pronk would go on to co-author the best-selling book The Resilience Shield, alongside his brother Ben and fellow SAS veteran Tim Curtis. By sharing his own stories and exploring different strategies for boosting mental health, Dr Pronk has become an outspoken advocate for improving resilience through his workshops and presenting.