List of United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps vice admirals

The rank of vice admiral (or three-star admiral), ranks above rear admiral (two-star admiral) and below admiral (full admiral, or four-star admiral) in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Flag of a U.S. Public Health Service vice admiral (surgeon general)

There have been 12 vice admirals in the history of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Of these, nine achieved that rank while on active duty and three were promoted upon retirement in recognition of meritorious service. All 12 were directly commissioned into the regular corps, with 10 commissioned into the modern corps (direct) and two commissioned into its predecessor, the Marine Hospital Service (MHS). Eight were originally civilians who were appointed to the regular corps and to grade upon taking office, three were active duty officers appointed to grade after leaving office, and one was a civilian appointed to the regular corps at four-star rank upon initial assumption of office.

List of admirals

All admirals in this list are indexed by the numerical order of their promotion to that rank, or by an asterisk (*) if they did not serve in that rank while on active duty in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps or were promoted to four-star rank while on active duty in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The listed date is their initial promotion to vice admiral, which may differ from their entry in the U.S. Public Health Service register. The year commissioned is taken to be the year the officer was directly commissioned which may precede the officer's actual date of commission by up to two years. Each entry lists the admiral's name, date of rank, active-duty position held while serving at three-star rank,^[a] number of years of active-duty service at three-star rank (Yrs),^[b] year commissioned and source of commission,^[c] number of years in commission when promoted to three-star rank (YC),^[d] and other biographical notes.^[e]

List of U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps vice admirals

#	Name	Photo	Date of rank	Position[a]	Yrs[b]	Commission[c]	YC[d]	Notes[e]
1	Julius B. Richmond		13 Jul 1977	Assistant Secretary for Health/Surgeon General (ASH/SG), 1977–1981.	4	1977 (direct)	0	(1916–2008) Director, Head Start, 1965–1967.[1]
2	C. Everett Koop		21 Jan 1982	Surgeon General (SG), 1982–1989.	7	1982 (direct)	0	(1916–2013) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, 1981–1982.
3	Antonia C. Novello		9 Mar 1990	Surgeon General (SG), 1990–1993.	3	1990 (direct)	0	(1944–        ) Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, 1999–2006. First woman to serve as Surgeon General.
4	Joycelyn Elders		8 Sep 1993	Surgeon General (SG), 1993–1994.	1	1993 (direct)	0	(1933–        ) Resigned, 1994. Director, Arkansas Department of Health, 1979–1981. First African American to be Surgeon General.
5	David Satcher		20 Jan 2001	Surgeon General (SG), 1998–2002.	1	1998 (direct)	3	(1941–        )[f] Assistant Secretary for Health, 1998–2001.
6	Richard H. Carmona		5 Aug 2002	Surgeon General (SG), 2002–2006.	4	2002 (direct)	0	(1949–        ) Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Arizona, 2012.
7	Regina M. Benjamin		3 Nov 2009	Surgeon General (SG), 2009–2013.	4	2009 (direct)	0	(1956–        )
8	Vivek H. Murthy		18 Dec 2014	Surgeon General (SG), 2014–2017. Surgeon General (SG), 2021–2025.[2]	7	2014 (direct)	0	(1977–        ) Co-Chair, COVID-19 Advisory Board, 2020–2021. First surgeon general of Indian descent; and first to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
9	Jerome M. Adams		5 Sep 2017	Surgeon General (SG), 2017–2021.	4	2017 (direct)	0	(1974–        ) Health Commissioner of Indiana, 2014–2017.

Timeline

1977–present

See also

• Admiral (United States)
• List of active duty United States three-star officers
• List of United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps four-star admirals
• List of United States military leaders by rank