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.
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 is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant Secretary for Health oversees the PHS. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) is the federal uniformed service of the PHS, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, also referred to as the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, is the uniformed service branch of the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States alongside the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Space Force and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. The commissioned corps' primary mission is the protection, promotion, and advancement of health and safety of the general public.
The Surgeon General's Medallion is the fourth highest award of the Public Health Service and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The medal is awarded in the name of the United States Surgeon General for actions of exceptional achievement to the cause of public health and medicine. It is awarded by the Surgeon General of the United States.
Identification badges of the uniformed services of the United States are insignia worn by service members conducting special duties, many of which can be awarded as permanent decorations if those duties are performed successfully. There are a few identification badges that are awarded to all services, others are specific to a uniform service. The Office of the President and Vice President and department/service headquarters badges are permanent decorations for those who successfully serve in those assignments. Some of the service level identification badges can be permanent decorations and others are only worn by a service member while performing specific duties, such as the Military Police Badge.
Awards and decorations of the United States government are civilian awards of the U.S. federal government which are typically issued for sustained meritorious service, in a civilian capacity, while serving in the U.S. federal government. Certain U.S. government awards may also be issued to military personnel of the United States Armed Forces and be worn in conjunction with awards and decorations of the United States military. In order of precedence, those U.S. non-military awards and decorations authorized for wear are worn after U.S. military personal decorations and unit awards and before U.S. military campaign and service awards.
The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), one of the eight uniformed services of the United States, has the authority to issue various awards, commendations, and other insignia to its members. These include individual honor awards, unit honor awards, service awards, training ribbons, special skill badges, and identification badges. The following PHSCC awards are listed in the service's order of precedence:
Gale S. Pollock is a retired United States Army major general who served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army from October 2006 to March 2007, and also as chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She became acting Surgeon General of the United States Army for nine months following the 20 March 2007 retirement of her predecessor, Kevin C. Kiley, due to fallout from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal. She was the first woman and the first non-physician to hold the position.
Vice admiral is a three-star commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, with the pay grade of O-9. Vice admiral ranks above rear admiral and below admiral. Vice admiral is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant general in the other uniformed services.
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.
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.
The Gorgas Medal was originally established as an annual award in 1915 by the Medical Reserve Corps Association of New York in honor of Surgeon General William C. Gorgas, U.S. Army. The award was based on a writing competition open to members of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, the U.S. Army Medical Reserve Corps, and to Medical Corps members of other “organized militia”. Surgeon General Gorgas appointed Colonel Charles Richard, Lieutenant Colonel Champe C. McCulloch, Jr., and Major Eugene R. Whitmore, Medical Corps, to form a review board and act as judge and jury for the writing competition. These officers were members of the Army Medical School faculty.
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.
The Assistant Secretary for Health’s Exceptional Service Medal is an award of the US Public Health Service. Administered by the Assistant Secretary for Health, the medal is awarded at the sole discretion of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
The Public Health Service Global Health Campaign Medal is a decoration of the United States Public Health Service presented to members of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Officer Corps and to members of any Uniformed Services of the United States in recognition of an officer's substantial contribution to a Global Health initiative mission outside of the United States.
The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps uses the same commissioned officer rank structure as the United States Navy and Coast Guard: from ensign to admiral. While the commissioned corps is authorized to use warrant officer ranks W-1 to W-4 under the U.S. Code of law, it does not currently use these ranks.
The Public Health Service COVID-19 Pandemic Campaign Medal, or Public Health Service Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Campaign Medal, is a decoration of the United States Public Health Service presented to members of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as well as to civilians who meet certain criteria for eligibility. It recognizes service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Public Health Service Ebola Campaign Medal is a decoration of the United States Public Health Service presented to members of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. It recognizes service in responding to an outbreak of the Ebola virus.
