The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established by Congress in 1908; however, unofficially, women had been working as nurses aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals for nearly 100 years. The Corps was all-female until 1965.
Alene Bertha Duerk became the first female admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1972. She was also the director of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps from 1970 to 1975. She is a 1974 recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award of Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
A hospital corpsman (HM) or corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy, who may also serve in a U.S. Marine Corps unit. The corresponding rating within the United States Coast Guard is health services technician (HS). The U.S. Navy Hospital Corps was created in 1898, with hospital corpsman used as a generic name for the applicable personnel while various other official names were used for the rating; after World War II, hospital corpsman became the official name for the rating.
Rear Admiral Alberto Díaz Jr. is the first Hispanic to become the Director of the San Diego Naval District and Balboa Naval Hospital.
United States Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan with its eight branch clinics are US Navy medical treatment facilities catering to the medical needs of eligible Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, family members, U.S. government employees, retired military service members and other eligible beneficiaries of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces on mainland Japan, Korea and Diego Garcia. The core hospital is located on board Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka with branch clinics serving Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, Commander Fleet Activities Chinhae Korea, Naval Support Activity Diego Garcia, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo.
Vice Admiral Nancy E. Brown is a retired vice admiral in the United States Navy who most recently served as the Director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems, The Joint Staff. She was the principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on all C4 systems matters within the Department of Defense. Her service spanned 32 years. She retired in 2009.
Rear Admiral Roberta L. Hazard was the third female line officer to be promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy, and at the time, the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. military. She was the first woman to command a United States Naval Training Command.
Rear Admiral Christine M. Bruzek-Kohler was the 21st Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps, and served as the Commander Naval Medical Center San Diego and Navy Medicine West from May 2009 to August 2010. She officially retired from the Navy in December 2010.
Nancy J. Lescavage is a retired American rear admiral who served as the 20th director of the Navy Nurse Corps and was the commander of Naval Medical Education and Training Command, Bethesda, Maryland.
Rear Admiral Joan Marie Engel held the position as the 18th Director of the Navy Nurse Corps from September 1994 to August 1998. She concurrently served as deputy commander for personnel management in the Health Sciences, Education and Training Command, and later as assistant chief for Education, Training and Personnel.
Rear Admiral Kathleen Koehler Paige is a retired United States Navy officer. She was the Program Director, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), the sea-based element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) under development by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Rear Admiral Paige retired on 22 November 2005 after 34 years of active service.
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.
Rear Admiral Carol Irene Baker Turner is a retired United States Navy officer who served as the first female chief of the United States Navy Dental Corps from 2003 to 2007. She also served as the commanding officer of the National Naval Dental Center at Bethesda, Maryland.
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.
Brigadier General Carmelita Vigil-Schimmenti is a retired officer of the United States Air Force, who in 1985 became the first Hispanic female to attain the rank of Brigadier General. Vigil-Schimmenti was the Chief of the United States Air Force Nurse Corps, Office of the Surgeon General; Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
Marshall Edward Cusic Jr is a retired rear admiral in the United States Navy Reserve who served as the deputy commander for total force integration, Navy Medicine Support Command, and chief of the Medical Reserve Corps, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
Margaret A. Rykowski is a rear admiral in the United States Navy Reserve and serves as Deputy Fleet Surgeon, United States Fleet Forces Command and Deputy Director, United States Navy Nurse Corps, Reserve Component.
Vice Admiral Matthew L. Nathan served as the 37th Surgeon General of the United States Navy.
William J. McDaniel is a retired rear admiral of the United States Navy. He served in the Medical Corps and was commander of the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Clinton Forrest Faison III is a retired vice admiral (VADM) in the United States Navy. He served as an officer in the Medical Corps and as the 38th Surgeon General of the United States Navy, and is currently the interim Provost of Northeast Ohio Medical University.
