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 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.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is a health science university and professional school of the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroad as uniformed health professionals,scientists and leaders;by conducting cutting-edge,military-relevant research;by leading the Military Health System in key functional and intellectual areas;and by providing operational support to units around the world.
Baldwin High School is a public high school in suburban Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,United States. The district serves the communities of:Baldwin,Whitehall and Baldwin Township. It is part of the Baldwin-Whitehall School District.
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.
A rear admiral in four of the uniformed services of the United States is one of two distinct ranks of commissioned officers;"rear admiral (lower half)," a one-star flag officer,and "rear admiral" (sometimes referred to as "rear admiral (upper half)"),a two-star flag officer. The two ranks are only utilized by the United States Navy,U.S. Coast Guard,U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps,and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. In contrast,in most other nations' rank-bearing services,the term "rear admiral" refers exclusively to two-star flag officer rank.
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.
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.
Clare Helminiak is a rear admiral (retired) in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She served as the Chief Medical Officer and Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.
Brett P. Giroir is an American pediatrician. He was formerly the U.S. assistant secretary for health,a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and an acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner.
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. On January 20,2025,while serving as the president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center,Sylvia Trent-Adams was asked to step down,four months after an NBC News investigation uncovered that the center had failed to contact families before using their loved ones’corpses for medical research. In September,NBC News published the first installment of a yearlong investigation into the Fort Worth-based Health Science Center’s practice of chopping up,studying and leasing out the bodies of the unclaimed dead —those whose family members often cannot be easily reached,or whose relatives cannot pay for cremation or burial.Over a five-year period,the center had received about 2,350 unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties and used many of them to train medical students;others it dissected and leased to outside groups,including major biotech companies and the U.S. Army,helping bring in about $2.5 million a year to the center. This was done without consent from the dead and,in many cases,without the knowledge of any of their survivors.
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.
Rachel Leland Levine is an American pediatrician who served as the United States assistant secretary for health,the admiral in charge of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps,from 2021 until 2025.
Roberta L. Shea is a United States Marine Corps lieutenant general who has served as the commander of United States Marine Corps Forces Command since August 6,2024. She previously served as the legislative assistant to the commandant of the Marine Corps from 2021 to 2024 and commanding general of the 1st Marine Logistics Group from 2019 to 2021.
Alexandra Nicole Baker,known as Sasha Baker,is an American policy advisor who served as deputy under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense.
Michael L. Cowan was an American navy admiral who served as the 34th Surgeon General of the United States Navy.
The Public Health Service National Emergency Preparedness Award 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 to provide emergency medical or support services between 2006 and 2019.
