АҚШ Медициналық қызмет комиссиясының бас директоры

Head of the U. S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

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 U. S. surgeon general is nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The surgeon general must be appointed from individuals who are members of the regular corps of the U. S. Public Health Service and have specialized training or significant experience in public health programs. However, there is no time requirement for membership in the Public Health Service before holding the office of the Surgeon General, and nominees traditionally were appointed as members of the Public Health Service and as surgeon general at the same time. The surgeon general serves a four year term of office and, depending on whether the current assistant secretary for health is a commissioned corps officer, is either the senior or next most senior uniformed officer of the commissioned corps, holding the rank of vice admiral. The current surgeon general is Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy.

The surgeon general reports to the assistant secretary for health (ASH). The ASH may be a four star admiral in the commissioned corps, and serves as 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 commissioned corps, a 6,500 member cadre of uniformed health professionals who are on call 24 hours a day and can be dispatched by the secretary of HHS or by 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 Medallion (the highest award bestowed by board action is the Public Health Service 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 label that has been present on all packages of American tobacco cigarettes since 1966. A similar health warning has appeared on alcoholic beverages labels since 1988.

In 1798, Congress established the Marine Hospital Fund, a network of hospitals that cared for sick and disabled seamen. The Marine Hospital Fund was reorganized along military lines in 1870 and became the Marine Hospital Service—the predecessor to today's United States Public Health Service. The service became a separate bureau of the Treasury Department with its own staff, administration, headquarters in Washington, D. C., and the position of supervising surgeon, later surgeon general. After 141 years under the Treasury Department, the Service came under the Federal Security Agency in 1939, then the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) in 1953, and finally the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Prior to 1970, the surgeon general was traditionally selected from career uniformed officers. Today, the surgeon general is usually selected from the civilian community, who aligns more closely with the president's political party. sparking nationwide anti smoking efforts. Terry and his committee defined cigarette smoking of nicotine as not an addiction. The committee itself consisted largely of physicians who themselves smoked. This report went uncorrected for 24 years. In 1986, 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. He also resisted pressure from the Reagan administration to report that abortion was psychologically harmful to women, stating he believed it was a moral issue rather than one concerning the public health. In 1994, 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. She replied, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." Elders also spoke in favor of studying drug legalization. In a reference to the national abortion issue, she said, "We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus and start worrying about children." She was fired by President Bill Clinton in December 1994. The U. S. Army, Navy, and Air Force also have officers overseeing medical matters in their respective services who hold the title Surgeon General, of their respective services, while the surgeon general of the United States is surgeon general of the entire country as a whole. The insignia of the surgeon general, and the USPHS, use the caduceus as opposed to the Rod of Asclepius.

The surgeon general is a commissioned officer in the U. S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of the eight uniformed services of the United States, and by law holds the rank of vice admiral. John Maynard Woodworth (1837–1879, served 1871–1879), was the first holder of the office as "supervising surgeon."

No. (Number) Portrait Name Term of office Appointed by Ref. (Refences) Took office Left office Time in office 1 John M. Woodworth March 29, 1871 March 14, 1879 Ulysses S. Grant 2 CommodoreJohn B. Hamilton April 3, 1879 June 1, 1891 Rutherford B. Hayes 3 CommodoreWalter Wyman June 1, 1891 November 21, 1911 Benjamin Harrison 4 CommodoreRupert Blue January 13, 1912 March 3, 1920 William Howard Taft 5 Rear AdmiralHugh S. Cumming March 3, 1920 January 31, 1936 Woodrow Wilson 6 Rear AdmiralThomas Parran Jr. April 6, 1936 April 6, 1948 Franklin D. Roosevelt 7 Rear AdmiralLeonard A. Scheele April 6, 1948 August 8, 1956 Harry S. Truman 8 Rear AdmiralLeroy E. Burney(1906–1998) August 8, 1956 January 29, 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower 9 Luther Terry March 2, 1961 October 1, 1965 John F. Kennedy 10 William H. Stewart October 1, 1965 August 1, 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson – Rear AdmiralRichard A. Prindle August 1, 1969 December 18, 1969 Richard Nixon 11 Jesse L. Steinfeld December 18, 1969 January 30, 1973 – Rear AdmiralS. Paul Ehrlich Jr. January 31, 1973 July 13, 1977 12 Vice AdmiralJulius B. Richmond July 13, 1977 January 20, 1981 Jimmy Carter – Rear AdmiralJohn C. Greene January 21, 1981 May 14, 1981 Ronald Reagan – Edward Brandt Jr. May 14, 1981 January 21, 1982 13 Vice AdmiralC. Everett Koop January 21, 1982 October 1, 1989 – AdmiralJames O. Mason October 1, 1989 March 9, 1990 George H. W. Bush 14 Vice AdmiralAntonia Novello March 9, 1990 June 30, 1993 – Rear AdmiralRobert A. Whitney July 1, 1993 September 8, 1993 Bill Clinton 15 Vice AdmiralJoycelyn Elders September 8, 1993 December 31, 1994 – Rear AdmiralAudrey F. Manley January 1, 1995 July 1, 1997 – Rear AdmiralJ. Jarrett Clinton July 2, 1997 February 12, 1998 16 AdmiralDavid Satcher February 13, 1998 February 12, 2002 – Rear AdmiralBoris Lushniak July 17, 2013 December 18, 2014 19 Vice AdmiralVivek Murthy December 18, 2014 April 21, 2017 – Rear AdmiralSylvia Trent Adams April 21, 2017 September 5, 2017 Donald Trump 20 Vice AdmiralJerome Adams September 5, 2017 January 20, 2021 – Rear AdmiralSusan Orsega January 20, 2021 March 24, 2021 62 days Joe Biden 21 Vice AdmiralVivek Murthy March 25, 2021 Present