Surgeon General of the United States Totally Explained

Everything about United States Surgeon General totally explained

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

Overview

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 commissioned officer in the PHSCC holding the grade of a three-star vice admiral while in office. In carrying out all responsibilities, the Surgeon General reports to the Assistant Secretary for Health, who is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues, and is the overall head of the United States Public Health Service Surgeon Generals are everywhere.Hooria wrote this(PHS).
   The former Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002, left office when his term expired on July 31, 2006. Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson is functioning as the Acting Surgeon General.
   The Surgeon General functions under the direction of the Assistant Secretary for Health and operationally heads the 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.
   Past American Surgeons General have often been characterized by their outspoken personalities and often controversial proposals on how to reform the U.S. health system. Because the office isn't a particularly powerful one, and has little direct impact on policy-making, Surgeons General are often vocal advocates of unconventional, unusual, or even unpopular health policies. Vice Admiral C. Everett Koop and Vice Admiral Joycelyn Elders were two former Surgeons General who were well known for their controversial ideas, especially on sex education.
   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.
   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 . 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. 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 Staffing Corps Officers (for example, Medical Services Corps, Supply Corps, etc).

Surgeons General of the United States

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

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