Dr Craig Challen is an Australian veterinarian, businessman, adventurer, pilot and cave diver.
As the founder of Vetwest Animal Hospitals, he combined clinical practice with entrepreneurship in building a privately held group of 19 veterinary practices before retiring in 2017.
In over 25 years of cave diving he has explored caves throughout the world and conducted some of the longest and deepest cave dives on record. This continues in 2024 with recent expeditions to China and South Africa.
In July 2018 he participated in the Tham Luang cave rescue in northern Thailand, during which 13 members of a junior soccer team were rescued after 17 days trapped by flood waters more than two kilometres inside a cave.
For their part in the rescue, he and his long-standing dive partner, Richard Harris, were awarded the Star of Courage and jointly named 2019 Australians of the Year.