Surgeon General

1. The chief general officer in the medical departments of the U.S. Army, Navy, or Air Force.
2. The chief medical officer in the U.S. Public Health Service or in a state public health service.

Since 1871, the Surgeon General of the United States has been the nation's leading spokesman on matters of public health. In that year, Dr. John Woodworth was appointed as the first supervising surgeon (later renamed surgeon general). Woodsworth established a cadre of medical personnel, called the Commissioned Corps, to administer the Marine Hospital System. This corps was established along military lines to be a mobile force of professionals subject to reassignment to meet the needs of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS).

Prior to 1968, the surgeon general was the head of the PHS, and all program, administrative, and financial management authorities were supervised by the surgeon general, who reported directly to the secretary of health, education, and welfare. In 1968, pursuant to a reorganization plan issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the secretary delegated responsibility for the PHS to the assistant secretary for health. The position of surgeon general became that of a principal deputy to the assistant secretary for health, with responsibility for advising and assisting on professional medical matters. In addition, a primary role developed in which the surgeon general became the PHS spokesperson on certain health issues.

In 1987, the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) was established as a staff office within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the department of United States Health and Human Services (USDHHS). Concomitant with this action, the surgeon general again became responsible for management of the personnel system for the Commissioned Corps, which is now a nearly 6,000-person cadre of public health professionals who are on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for deployment in case of national health emergencies. (The surgeon general does not directly supervise all commissioned officers; most of whom work in the PHS or other federal agencies and report to agency line managers who may or may not be in the corps.) In carrying out these responsibilities, the surgeon general reports to the assistant secretary for health, who is the principal advisor to the secretary on public health and scientific issues.

Today, the surgeon general's duties also include the following:

• Providing leadership and management oversight for PHS Commissioned Corps involvement in departmental emergency preparedness and response activities.
• Protecting and advancing the health of the nation through educating the public; advocating for effective disease-prevention and health-promotion programs and activities; and providing a highly recognized symbol of national commitment to protecting and improving the public's health.
• Articulating scientifically based health-policy analysis and advice to the president and the secretary of health and human services on the full range of critical public health and health-system issues facing the nation.
• Providing leadership in promoting special departmental health initiatives, including tobacco and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) prevention efforts, both domestically and internationally.
• Elevating the quality of public health practice in the professional disciplines through the advancement of appropriate standards and research priorities.
• Fulfilling statutory and customary departmental representational functions on a wide variety of federal boards and governing bodies of nonfederal health organizations, including the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the National Library of Medicine, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the American Medical Association.

(SEE ALSO: United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS]; United States Public Health Service [USPHS])

— DAVID SATCHER

The U.S. Surgeon General is charged with the protection and advancement of health in the United States. Since the 1960s the surgeon general has become a highly visible federal public health official, speaking out against known health risks such as tobacco use, and promoting disease prevention measures such as exercise and community water fluoridation.

The U.S. Surgeon General's Office is a unit of the Office of Public Health and Science, which is a major component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The surgeon general is appointed by the president and serves as a highly recognized symbol of the federal government's commitment to protecting and improving public health.

The surgeon general performs four major functions: promoting disease prevention and health in the United States through special health initiatives, advising the president and the secretary of the HHS on public health issues, encouraging the enhancement of public health practice in the professional disciplines, and administering the Public Health Service Commission Corps in ongoing and emergency response activities. The corps is comprised of approximately 6,000 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and scientists.

The surgeon general oversees research on public health matters and writes reports that inform the medical profession and the public about ways of preventing disease. These reports have dealt with topics such as tobacco use, HIV and AIDS prevention, drug abuse, and the need for physical exercise.

The 1964 report of surgeon general Dr. Luther L. Terry on tobacco, entitled Smoking and Health, is perhaps the most famous example of how the surgeon general draws public attention to public health concerns. In 1964, 46 percent of all U.S. citizens smoked, and smoking was accepted in offices, airplanes, and elevators. Television programs were sponsored by cigarette brands. Terry's report concluded that smoking causes cancer. This conclusion became the foundation for later efforts to ban tobacco advertising from television, to restrict smoking in public places, and to place warning labels on cigarette packages. Since the 1964 report, smoking rates have declined from 46 percent to 25 percent.

Other surgeons general have sparked public controversy as well. In the 1980s Dr. C. Everett Koop's advocacy of the use of condoms to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS angered religious groups and others. Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders, who was sworn in as surgeon general in September 1993, was forced to resign in December 1994 for promoting masturbation for young people as a way to avoid teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

See: acquired immune deficiency syndrome; health care law.

Surgeon General of the United States
Incumbent: VADM Regina Benjamin since: 2 November 2009
First	John M. Woodworth
Formation	29 March 1871
Website	Official Website

The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government. The Surgeon General's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG).

Contents 1 Selection and current office-holder 2 Responsibilities 3 History 4 Service rank 5 Surgeons General of the United States 6 References 7 External links

Selection and current office-holder

The Surgeon General is nominated by the U.S. President and confirmed via majority vote by the Senate. The Surgeon General serves a four-year term of office and is the highest ranking uniformed officer of the PHSCC, holding the grade of a three-star vice admiral while in office.^[1] However, the Surgeon General reports to the United States Assistant Secretary for Health, who himself may hold the rank of a four-star admiral within the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Currently, the position of acting Surgeon General is held by Rear Admiral Donald L. Weaver, USPHS pending the oath of office by Regina Benjamin, who has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 29, 2009 to be the next Surgeon General.

Responsibilities

US Public Health Service

The Surgeon General reports to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), who is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues. The Surgeon General is the overall head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), a 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the USPHS, a cadre of health professionals who are on call 24 hours a day, and can be dispatched by the Secretary of HHS or the Assistant Secretary for Health in the event of a public health emergency.

The Surgeon General is also the ultimate award authority for several public health awards and decorations, the highest of which that can be directly awarded is the Surgeon General's Medal (the highest award bestowed by board action is the Distinguished Service Medal). The Surgeon General also has many informal duties, such as educating the American public about health issues and advocating healthy lifestyle choices.

The office also periodically issues health warnings. Perhaps the best known example of this is the Surgeon General's Warning labels that can be found on all packages of American cigarettes. A health warning also appears on alcoholic beverages.

History

US Public Health Service Collar Device

US Public Health Service Cap Device

In 1798, Congress established the Marine Hospital Service—predecessor to today’s United States Public Health Service—to provide health care to sick and injured merchant seamen. In 1870, the Marine Hospital Service was reorganized as a national hospital system with centralized administration under a medical officer, the Supervising Surgeon, who was later given the title of Surgeon General.^[2]

The U.S. Public Health Service was under the direction of the Office of the Surgeon General and was an independent government agency until 1953 at which point it was integrated into the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and later into the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Although the U.S. Public Health Service and the Surgeon General were at various times under the umbrella of the Department of the Treasury or the Federal Security Agency, the agency operated with a substantial amount of independence.

Some Surgeons General have been noted for being outspoken and advocating controversial proposals on how to reform the U.S. health system.^{[citation needed]} The office is not a particularly powerful one, and has little direct impact on policy-making, but Surgeons General are often vocal advocates of unconventional or unpopular health policies.

• In 1986, Vice Admiral C. Everett Koop's report on AIDS called for some form of AIDS education in the early grades of elementary school and gave full support for using condoms for disease prevention.^[3]

• In 1994, Vice Admiral Joycelyn Elders spoke at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught."^[4]

The U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force also have officers overseeing medical matters in their respective services who hold the title Surgeon General.

Service rank

The Surgeon General is a commissioned officer in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and by law holds the rank of vice admiral ^[1]. Officers of the PHSCC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps (NOAA Corps) are classified as non-combatants, but can be subjected to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Geneva Conventions when designated by the Commander-in-Chief as a military force or if they are detailed or assigned to work with the armed forces. Officer members of these services wear uniforms that are similar to those worn by the U.S. Navy, except that the commissioning devices, buttons, and insignia are unique. Officers in PHS and NOAA wear unique devices which are similar to U.S. Navy Staff Corps Officers (e.g., Navy Medical Service Corps, Supply Corps, etc).

The only Surgeon General to hold the rank of four-star admiral was David Satcher. This was because he served simultaneously in the positions of Surgeon General (three-star) and Assistant Secretary for Health (which is a four-star office).^[5]

Surgeons General of the United States

#	Name	Photo	Term of Office		Appointed by
			Start Of Term	End Of Term
1	John M. Woodworth		29 March 1871	14 March 1879	Ulysses S. Grant
2	RADM John B. Hamilton		3 April 1879	1 June 1891	Rutherford B. Hayes
3	RADM Walter Wyman		1 June 1891	21 November 1911	Benjamin Harrison
4	RADM Rupert Blue		13 January 1912	3 March 1920	William Taft
5	RADM Hugh S. Cumming		3 March 1920	31 January 1936	Woodrow Wilson
6	RADM Thomas Parran, Jr.		6 April 1936	6 April 1948	Franklin D. Roosevelt
7	RADM Leonard A. Scheele		6 April 1948	8 August 1956	Harry S. Truman
8	RADM LeRoy Edgar Burney		1 August 1956	29 January 1961	Dwight Eisenhower
9	RADM Luther Leonidas Terry		2 March 1961	1 October 1965	John F. Kennedy
10	VADM William H. Stewart		1 October 1965	1 August 1969	Lyndon Johnson
11	RADM Jesse Leonard Steinfeld		18 December 1969	30 June 1973	Richard Nixon
(acting)	RADM Paul Ehrlich, Jr.		1 July 1973	13 July 1977
12	VADM Julius B. Richmond		13 July 1977	14 May 1981	Jimmy Carter
(acting)	Edward Brandt, Jr.		14 May 1981	21 January 1982	Ronald Reagan
13	VADM C. Everett Koop		21 January 1982	1 October 1989
(acting)	ADM James O. Mason		1 October 1989	9 March 1990	George H. W. Bush
14	VADM Antonia C. Novello		9 March 1990	30 June 1993
(acting)	RADM Robert A. Whitney		1 July 1993	8 September 1993	Bill Clinton
15	VADM Joycelyn Elders		8 September 1993	31 December 1994
(acting)	RADM Audrey F. Manley		1 January 1995	1 July 1997
16	ADM[5] / VADM David Satcher		13 February 1998	12 February 2002
(acting)	RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu		13 February 2002	4 August 2002	George W. Bush
17	VADM Richard Carmona		5 August 2002	31 July 2006
(acting)	RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu		1 August 2006	30 September 2007
	RADM Steven K. Galson		1 October 2007	1 October 2009	George W. Bush
	RADM Donald L. Weaver		1 October 2009	2 November 2009	Barack Obama
18	VADM Regina Benjamin[6]		2 November 2009	Incumbent

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Public Health, Commissioned Corps Uniforms and Ranks.
2. ^ HHS - Office of the Surgeon General - About the Office
3. ^ Marie Winn (October 9, 1988). "The Legacy of Dr. Koop". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DE1739F93AA35753C1A96E948260. 
4. ^ Leon Dash, "Joycelyn Elders: From Sharecropper's Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States of America", Washington Monthly, January-February 1997
5. ^ ^{a b} "Office of the Surgeon General, David Satcher (1998-2002)". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 4 January 2007. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/previous/biosatcher.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
6. ^ Obama picks Regina Benjamin as surgeon general

External links

• Official website of the U.S. Surgeon General
  • Previous Surgeons General

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