The Past and Future Office of the Surgeon General
Authors: David Satcher
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2014)

Ideas and Opinions17 March 2015The Past and Future Office of the Surgeon GeneralDavid Satcher, MD, PhDDavid Satcher, MD, PhDFrom the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M14-1393 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail The present-day position of U.S. Surgeon General has its roots in President John Adams' 1798 establishment of the Marine Hospital Fund in response to the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia (1). The Marine Hospital Fund later became the Marine Hospital Service, and its first Supervising Surgeon was appointed in 1871. This position was renamed “Surgeon General” in 1873 when the Office of the Surgeon General was established, and the Marine Hospital Service became the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in 1912 (1).For many years, the Surgeon General headed the PHS and focused on controlling infectious diseases, such as ...References1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. History of the Office of the Surgeon General. 2014. Accessed at www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/history/index.html on 2 June 2014. Google Scholar2. Bell H. Surgeons General: defenders of public health. New Physician. 2001;51. Accessed at www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/Publications/TheNewPhysician/2002/tnp170.aspx on 4 June 2014. Google Scholar3. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. Public Health Service publication no. 1103. Washington, DC: US Gov Pr Office; 1964. Accessed at http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/X/B on 6 June 2014. Google Scholar4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health; 1999. Google Scholar5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. Rockville, MD: US Gov Pr Office; 2001. Google Scholar6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014. Accessed at www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/index.html on 4 June 2014. Google Scholar7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health; 2012. Accessed at www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/youth_data/tobacco_use/index.htm on 4 June 2014. Google Scholar8. List of smoking bans in the United States. Wikipedia; 2014. Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States on 4 June 2014. Google Scholar9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Childhood obesity facts: prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. 2014. Accessed at www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html on 11 June 2014. Google Scholar10. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Prevention Council. 2014. Accessed at www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/about/index.html on 4 June 2014. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.Disclosures: The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. His form can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M14-1393.Corresponding Author: David Satcher, MD, PhD, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Drive, Atlanta, GA 30310; e-mail, [email protected]edu.Author Contributions: Conception and design: D. Satcher.Analysis and interpretation of the data: D. Satcher.Drafting of the article: D. Satcher.Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: D. Satcher.Final approval of the article: D. Satcher.This article was published online first at www.annals.org on 30 December 2014. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 17 March 2015Volume 162, Issue 6Page: 450-451KeywordsArmed forcesCholeraMalariaMedical servicesObesityOverweightPrevention, policy, and public healthPublic policySurgeonsTuberculosis ePublished: 17 March 2015 Issue Published: 17 March 2015 CopyrightCopyright © 2015 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...