About Dr. Grant Tarling, MD, MPH – Chief Medical Officer
View video updates from Dr. Tarling on these topics:
Enhanced Boarding Procedures and Onboard Preventive Measures
About Dr. Grant Tarling, MD & MPH
Dr. Grant Tarling is Group Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for the Carnival Corporation’s world’s leading cruise lines including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Australia and HAP Alaska. Carnival Corporation & plc, is the world’s largest travel leisure company. Operating nine cruise lines with over 102 ships, carry 12 million guests annually, the corporation represents 50% of the global cruise market.
As a uniquely innovative physician executive, Dr. Tarling has developed a multi-faceted health system that rivals the largest US health plans and delivers a broad spectrum of remote health services to more than 8 million travelers and 90,000 shipboard employees from over 100 nationalities. Dr. Tarling is responsible for a multi-national clinical staff of over 800 full-time doctors, nurses and paramedics who deliver evidence-based care within modern medical centers onboard 70 cruise ships sailing on international itineraries.
Dr. Tarling’s unwavering commitment to quality patient-centered health services, has resulted in the health department being continuously accredited since 2006 to over 300 healthcare standards and certified to ISO 9001:2015.
Dr. Tarling is also charged with developing and implementing research-based public health policies and procedures that protect large populations of global travelers. His expertise is routinely called upon by national and international health authorities to help develop prevention and control measures to mitigate the global spread of communicable diseases such as Zika, Ebola, MERS, Chikungunya, Legionella, noroviruses and novel influenza viruses.
Dr. Tarling’s influence extends well beyond the boundaries of his own operating environment. In 2016, he was elected for a second, four-year term as Chair and Chair-Elect of the Cruise Ship Medicine Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In the role, he vigorously championed best-practice healthcare guidelines that have been adopted by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) whose members represent 95% of the world’s cruise lines. He is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the International Society of Travel Medicine and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health.
Dr. Tarling’s cruise industry experience spans 27 years. He initially worked ten years as a senior shipboard physician, after which he moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to accept a position as Vice President and Fleet Medical Officer. He was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer in 2006.
Dr. Tarling’s educational background includes a medical doctorate degree from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds medical licenses from the United Kingdom and Malta. In 2012, he earned an Executive Master of Public Health degree in Health Care Management and Policy, and Global Health certification from the University of California, Los Angeles.