The United States has eight federal uniformed services that commission officers as defined by Title 10 and subsequently structured and organized by Titles 10, 14, 32, 33, and 42 of the U.S. Code.
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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps is one of eight federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific agency overseen by the Department of Commerce. The NOAA Corps is made up of scientifically and technically trained officers. The NOAA Corps and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are the only U.S. uniformed services that consist only of commissioned officers, with no enlisted or warrant officer ranks. The NOAA Corps' primary mission is to monitor oceanic conditions, support major waterways, and monitor atmospheric conditions.
In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade. United States Navy commissioned officer ranks have two distinct sets of rank insignia: On dress uniform a series of stripes similar to Commonwealth naval ranks are worn; on service khaki, working uniforms, and special uniform situations, the rank insignia are identical to the equivalent rank in the US Marine Corps.
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.
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.
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.
Admiral is a four-star commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below fleet admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health Service do not have an established grade above admiral. Admiral is equivalent to the rank of general in the other uniformed services. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps has never had an officer hold the grade of admiral. However, 37 U.S.C. § 201 of the U.S. Code established the grade for the NOAA Corps, in case a position is created that merits the four-star grade.
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:
United States Coast Guard officer rank insignia describes an officer's pay-grade. Rank is displayed on collar devices, shoulder boards, and on the sleeves of dress uniforms.
In the United States Armed Forces, a major general is a two-star general officer in the United States Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.
The assistant secretary for health (ASH) is a senior U.S. government official within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The position is a statutory office and the holder of the office serves as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services's primary advisor on matters involving the nation's public health. The assistant secretary oversees all matters pertaining to the United States Public Health Service (PHS), the main division of the Department of Health and Human Services, for the secretary and provides strategic and policy direction. The Public Health Service comprises almost all of the agency divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services including the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of the eight federal uniformed services, comprising more than 6,500 uniformed health professionals who serve with the Department of Health and Human Services, or are assigned to work within other federal agencies, including the United States Armed Forces.
A rear admiral in the uniformed services of the United States is either of two different ranks of commissioned officers: one-star flag officers and two-star flag officers. By contrast, in most other countries, the term "rear admiral" refers only to an officer of two-star rank.
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, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, and the United States Maritime Service, 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 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, 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.
James Allen Zimble was a commissioned officer in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy. His Navy career spanned 35 years of service, beginning in 1956 at the rank of ensign and ending in 1991 at the rank of vice admiral. He served as the 30th Surgeon General of the United States Navy from 1987 to 1991. After retiring from the Navy in 1991, Zimble was appointed President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He remained in that position until 2004.
In the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, captain is the senior-most commissioned officer rank below that of flag officer. The equivalent rank is colonel in the United States Army, Air Force, Space Force, and Marine Corps.
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.
This is a timeline of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and its predecessor, the Marine Hospital Service.
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.
