The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. The Surgeon General's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) which is housed within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
James Ostermann Mason was an American medical doctor and public health administrator. He was the United States Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) from 1989 to 1993 and the Acting Surgeon General of the United States from 1989 to 1990. As the ASH he was also a former four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He was also a director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
David Satcher, is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.
The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches. It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July of 1775 to coordinate the medical care required by the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The AMEDD is led by the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, a lieutenant general.
The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.
Dr. David N. Sundwall is a primary care physician and served as the Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health from January 2005 to January 2011.
Adam Mayfield Robinson Jr. is a United States Navy vice admiral who served as the 36th Surgeon General of the United States Navy (2007–2011).
Rear Admiral Bonnie Burnham Potter was the first female physician in the Navy Medical Corps to be selected for flag rank. She served as the commanding officer of the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland and Chief of the Navy Medical Corps.
Steven Kenneth Galson is an American public health physician. He is currently Senior Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs & Strategy at Amgen, the California-based biopharmaceutical company. He is also Professor-at-Large at the Keck Graduate Institute for Applied Life Sciences in Claremont, California. He is a retired rear admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and public health administrator who served as the acting Surgeon General of the United States from October 1, 2007 – October 1, 2009. He served concurrently as acting Assistant Secretary for Health from January 22, 2009 to June 25, 2009, and as the Deputy Director and Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration from 2001 to 2007. As the Acting Surgeon General, he was the commander of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and, while serving as the Assistant Secretary for Health, was the operational head of the Public Health Service.
Rear Admiral Edward Dana Martin is the former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense. He was appointed to two terms, originally in 1993 and once again in 1997. Martin served as the Secretary's principal advisor on matters related to the military health system, health.mil. The Military Health System (MHS) mission is to provide optimal Health Services in support of the United States' military mission. The MHS is a unique partnership of medical educators, medical researchers, and healthcare providers and their support personnel worldwide. This DoD enterprise consists of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense ; the medical departments of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Combatant Command surgeons; and TRICARE providers.
Donald Caldwell Arthur, Jr. is a former United States Navy medical corps vice admiral (VADM). He entered the Navy in 1974, qualified as both a naval flight surgeon and a Submarine Medical Officer, and eventually served as the 35th Surgeon General of the United States Navy from 2004 to 2007.
James M. Galloway is an American medical doctor and public health physician. Galloway served as the Regional Health Administrator for the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the six eastern states that comprise Region V under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He also served as the Senior Federal Official for Health for Pandemic Influenza and Bioterrorism for the Department of Homeland Security's Region C, which includes an additional six states. Galloway was the lead for one of CDC's lead efforts as the Director of the Office of Health System Collaboration, integrating clinical care and public health at a national level.
Rear Admiral Karen Ann Flaherty assumed duties as the Deputy Surgeon General of Navy Medicine at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery as of August 6, 2010. Flaherty served as the 22nd Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps as well as the Deputy Chief, Wounded, Ill, and Injured at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from 2009 to 2010.
Boris Lushniak is a retired United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral who served as the acting Surgeon General of the United States, from July 17, 2013 to December 18, 2014. He previously served as the Deputy Surgeon General from 2010 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2015 when Vivek Murthy assumed office as Surgeon General. He retired from the Public Health Service on December 8, 2015 after over 27 years of service. On October 4, 2016 he was appointed dean of the University of Maryland, College Park School of Public Health, effective January 9, 2017.
Raquel Cruz Bono is a retired vice admiral in the United States Navy, and the former director of the Defense Health Agency.
Clare Helminiak is a rear admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She served as the Chief Medical Officer and is an Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.
William J. McDaniel is a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy. He served in the Medical Corps and from 1992-1995 was Commander of the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Sylvia Trent-Adams is a retired U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral, who last served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for health from January 2, 2019 to August 31, 2020. She previously served as the deputy surgeon general of the United States from October 25, 2015 to January 2, 2019. Trent-Adams also served as the acting surgeon general of the United States from April 21, 2017 to September 5, 2017. She retired from the U.S. Public Health Service on September 30, 2020 after over 33 years of combined uniformed service. On October 5, 2020, Trent-Adams was named to the board of directors for AMN Healthcare.
Erica G. Schwartz is a retired U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral who last served as the deputy surgeon general of the United States from January 2019 to January 2021. As a Commissioned Corps officer, she served with the U.S. Coast Guard as their Chief of Health Services and Chief of Preventive Medicine at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters and became its principal expert on flu pandemics. Prior to becoming Deputy Surgeon General, she served as the Coast Guard's Chief Medical Officer from 2015 to 2019. She retired in January 2021 after over 27 years of combined uniformed service.
Stephen M. Pachuta is a retired United States Navy rear admiral. He served as the 37th Chief of the United States Navy Dental Corps. He retired from the Navy in December 2017, after 32 years of military service.
