Surgeon General of the United States

The **Surgeon General of the United States** is in charge of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC). They are the main spokesperson about things dealing with public health in the federal government. The Surgeon General's office and staff are known as the **Office of the Surgeon General** (OSG).

## Selection and current office-holder

The Surgeon General is chosen by the U.S. President and confirmed by the Senate. The Surgeon General serves for a four-year period of time. The Surgeon General is either the highest ranking or second highest ranking uniformed officer of the PHSCC. This depends on if the current Assistant Secretary for Health is a PHSCC commissioned officer or not. The position has the grade of a three-star vice admiral .

## List of surgeons general of the United States

|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Portrait|rowspan=2|Name|colspan=3|Term of office|rowspan=2|Appointed by|rowspan=2||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1||**John M. Woodworth**|March 29, 1871|March 14, 1879||Ulysses S. Grant||||||||||
|2||Commodore **John B. Hamilton**|April 3, 1879|June 1, 1891||Rutherford B. Hayes||||||||||
|3||Commodore **Walter Wyman**|June 1, 1891|November 21, 1911||Benjamin Harrison||||||||||
|4||Commodore **Rupert Blue**|January 13, 1912|March 3, 1920||William Howard Taft||||||||||
|5||Rear Admiral **Hugh S. Cumming**|March 3, 1920|January 31, 1936||Woodrow Wilson||||||||||
|6||Rear Admiral **Thomas Parran Jr.**|April 6, 1936|April 6, 1948||Franklin D. Roosevelt||||||||||
|7||Rear Admiral **Leonard A. Scheele**|April 6, 1948|August 8, 1956||Harry S. Truman||||||||||
|8||Rear Admiral **Leroy E. Burney** <small>(1906–1998)</small>|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||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Richard A. Prindle**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|August 1, 1969|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|December 18, 1969|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=3|Richard Nixon|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|11||**Jesse L. Steinfeld**|December 18, 1969|January 30, 1973||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **S. Paul Ehrlich Jr.**|January 31, 1973|July 13, 1977||||||||||||
|12||Vice Admiral **Julius B. Richmond**|July 13, 1977|January 20, 1981||Jimmy Carter||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **John C. Greene**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|January 21, 1981|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|May 14, 1981|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=3|Ronald Reagan|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|–||**Edward Brandt Jr.**|May 14, 1981|January 21, 1982||||||||||||
|13||Vice Admiral **C. Everett Koop**|January 21, 1982|October 1, 1989||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Admiral **James O. Mason**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|October 1, 1989|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|March 9, 1990|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2|George H. W. Bush|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|14||Vice Admiral **Antonia Novello**|March 9, 1990|June 30, 1993||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Robert A. Whitney**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|July 1, 1993|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|September 8, 1993|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=5|Bill Clinton|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|15||Vice Admiral **Joycelyn Elders**|September 8, 1993|December 31, 1994||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **Audrey F. Manley**|January 1, 1995|July 1, 1997||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **J. Jarrett Clinton**|July 2, 1997|February 12, 1998||||||||||||
|16||Admiral **David Satcher**|February 13, 1998|February 12, 2002||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Kenneth P. Moritsugu**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|February 13, 2002|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|August 4, 2002|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=4|George W. Bush|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|17||Vice Admiral **Richard Carmona**|August 5, 2002|July 31, 2006||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **Kenneth P. Moritsugu**|August 1, 2006|September 30, 2007||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **Steven K. Galson**|October 1, 2007|October 1, 2009||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Donald L. Weaver**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|October 1, 2009|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|November 3, 2009|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=4|Barack Obama|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|18||Vice Admiral **Regina Benjamin**|November 3, 2009|July 16, 2013||||||||||||
|–||Rear Admiral **Boris Lushniak**|July 17, 2013|December 18, 2014||||||||||||
|19||Vice Admiral **Vivek Murthy**|April 22, 2015|April 21, 2017||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Sylvia Trent-Adams**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|April 21, 2017|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|September 5, 2017|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan="2"|Donald Trump|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|20||Vice Admiral **Jerome Adams**|September 5, 2017|January 20, 2021||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Susan Orsega**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|January 20, 2021|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|March 24, 2021|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|62 days|rowspan="2"|Joe Biden|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|21||Vice Admiral **Vivek Murthy**|March 25, 2021|January 20, 2025||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|–|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"|Rear Admiral **Denise Hinton**|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|January 20, 2025|style="background:#e6e6aa;"|_Incumbent_|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan="2"|Donald Trump|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||
|_Nominee_||**Casey Means**|TBD|_Awaiting confirmation_||||||||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Surgeon General
- **body**: the
United States
- **insignia**: United States Public Health Service (seal).svg
- **insigniacaption**: Seal of the United States Public Health Service
- **flag**: Flag of the United States Surgeon General v1.svg
- **flagcaption**: Flag of the United States surgeon general
- **image**: Rear Admiral Denise Hinton (two-star).jpg
- **incumbent**: Rear admiral (United States)#Rear admiral, Rear Admiral Denise Hinton
- **acting**: y
- **incumbentsince**: January 20, 2025
- **department**: United States Public Health Service, U.S. Public Health Service
United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Commissioned Corps
- **style**: Surgeon General
Vice Admiral
- **abbreviation**: SG
VADM
- **reports to**: Assistant Secretary for Health, United States Assistant Secretary for Health
- **seat**: Hubert H. Humphrey Building, United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Washington, D.C.
- **appointer**: President of the United States
- **appointer qualified**: with United States Senate advice and consent
- **termlength**: 4 years
- **constituting instrument**: and

- **formation**: March 29, 1871
- **first**: John Maynard Woodworth, John M. Woodworth (as supervising surgeon)
- **deputy**: Deputy Surgeon General