Antonia Coello Novello is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as 14th Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. Novello also served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New York from 1999 to 2006. Novello has received numerous awards including more than fifty honorary degrees,was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2000,and has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Her memoir,Duty Calls:Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Life of Service,was published in 2024.
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States 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.
The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is the uniformed service branch of the United States Public Health Service and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The commissioned corps' primary mission is the protection,promotion,and advancement of health and safety of the general public.
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 is a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 11th Assistant Secretary for Health,and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.
Faye Glenn Abdellah was an American pioneer in nursing research. Abdellah was the first nurse and woman to serve as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States. Preceding her appointment,she served in active duty during the Korean War,where she earned a distinguished ranking equivalent to a Navy Rear Admiral,making her the highest-ranked woman and nurse in the Federal Nursing Services at the time. In addition to these achievements,Abdellah led the formation of the National Institute of Nursing Research at the NIH,and was the founder and first dean of the Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). A few of Abdellah's more passionate interests in public health included the importance of long-term care planning for elderly patients;the need to strengthen nursing school infrastructure;and the necessity of patient-centered approaches in nursing. In 2000,Abdellah was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. During her acceptance speech,Abdellah made the following quote:"We cannot wait for the world to change. .. Those of us with intelligence,purpose,and vision must take the lead and change the world. .. I promise never to rest until my work has been completed!”
The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) is an agency of the United States Department of the Navy that manages health care activities for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. BUMED operates hospitals and other healthcare facilities as well as laboratories for biomedical research,and trains and manages the Navy's many staff corps related to medicine. Its headquarters is located at the Defense Health Headquarters in Fairfax County,Virginia. BUMED has 41,930 medical personnel and more than a million eligible beneficiaries.
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).
Steven Kenneth Galson is an American public health physician. He is currently a Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group and Independent Board Member at Biocryst Pharmaceuticals and Elephas Biosciences. Until 2021 he was Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Amgen,the California-based biopharmaceutical company. He is also a Trustee and 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 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 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's (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,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 L. Weaver is an American physician. He is a 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. Weaver succeeded Steven K. Galson in October 2009,in expectation of a holdup by the United States Senate in confirming Regina Benjamin as surgeon general. Before being appointed as Acting Surgeon General,he served as the deputy associate administrator for primary health care in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
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. She is Chief Health Officer for Viking Cruises and a Senior Fellow for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
The Dr. Nathan Davis Awards are presented annually by the American Medical Association (AMA) and awarded to elected and career public servants in national,state,and local governments for outstanding government service. These awards are named for the founder of the American Medical Association,Nathan Smith Davis.
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 April 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 April 2021 after over 27 years of combined uniformed service.
Bruce Lindsley Gillingham is a retired United States Navy rear admiral and orthopedic surgeon who last served as the 39th surgeon general of the United States Navy from 2019 to 2023. As surgeon general,Gillingham was dual-hatted as the 43rd chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and was responsible to the United States Secretary of the Navy,Chief of Naval Operations and director of the Defense Health Agency for all health and medical matters pertaining to the Navy and Marine Corps.
Denise Hinton is an American nurse serving as the deputy surgeon general of the United States. She is a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Hinton was the chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2021.
United States 
U.S. Public Health Service 
Rear Admiral 
