This week’s special guest on the popular Facebook Livestream DIVETALKS, powered by Divesoft, is the well-published, Canadian diver Neal Pollock. Pollock is an expert in diving health and safety and has provided the diving community with many publications, ranging from topics such as thermal physiology to the evolving standards for diabetes and diving. Be sure to tune in this Thursday, July 9th at 1 p.m. EDT, and get a glimpse into the life of one of the world’s most educated divers!
Canadian-born Neal Pollock has one of the most in-depth academic histories of any diver we know. He originally began his studies in zoology, later becoming the diving officer at University of British Columbia. It was when he moved to Florida State University to complete his doctorate in exercise physiology/environmental physiology that his research work really took off, taking on roles such as the Research Director at Divers Alert Network (DAN) and conducting research at the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environment Physiology at Duke University.
And this was just the beginning of Neal’s career. He has served in a number of offices, including on boards of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and the Canadian Association for Underwater Science (past president). He is currently on the executive board of the Canadian Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Association and the diving control board of the University of the Virgin Islands. Thanks to the research accomplished by Neal and his teams, we have all become more knowledgeable in the subjects of zoology/marine science, exercise physiology, and environmental physiology. As one example, Pollock developed and maintained a breath-hold incident database for DAN, capturing cases from 2004 through 2016.
Neal is also an accomplished writer and editor, publishing an extensive number of diving-related works. Check out his Wikipedia page for the impressive list! Chances are, how you dive today has been greatly impacted by Neal’s writing. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine and serves on the editorial boards for the journals Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental, Aviation and Space Physiology. Neal has also been recognized with a number of awards, including the Charles W. Shilling Award from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, the EUROTEK.2014 Publication Award, and most recently, the Ice Axe Award from the Wilderness Medical Society.
There truly are so many avenues that this week’s livestream could go down. Be sure to mark your calendars for Neal Pollock’s appearance on DIVETALKS, airing Thursday, July 9th at 1 p.m. EDT and take a moment to prepare any questions you might have for him beforehand. Follow the link HERE on Thursday, and get ready to learn something new with Neal Pollock!
