U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps history

He studied natural history and medicine in Chicago, graduating from Rush Medical College in 1862 and joining the Union Army.

Woodworth borrowed the military model which was the only extant of appointment to public office in the 1870 and adopted it to the service.

Doctor John Maynard Woodworth, a famous surgeon of the Union Army who served under General William Tecumseh Sherman, was appointed in 1871 as the Supervising Surgeon.

In 1873, his title was changed to Supervising Surgeon General.

The act also raised the hospital tax from twenty cents to forty cents until 1884.

In 1889, when the Commissioned Corps was formally recognized by legislative action, the medical officers were given titles and pay corresponding to Army and Navy grades.

The act of August 14, 1912 changed the name of the PHMHS to the Public Health Service and further broadened its powers by authorizing investigations into human diseases (such as, tuberculosis, hookworm, malaria, and leprosy), sanitation, water supplies and sewage disposal, but went no further.

In 1936 Surgeon General Thomas Parran led the fight against venereal disease and paved the way for modern public health organization.

Real consolidation began in June 1939, when the PHS was transferred by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the newly created Federal Security Agency (FSA), which combined a number of New Deal government agencies and services related to health, education, and welfare.

In 1941 when the U.S Coast Guard was militarized, the PHS went to war as well.

While the USPHS continues to work to improve the health of the United States today, one USPHS program created in 1942 – the Malaria Control in War Areas program (MCWA) — is very important to CDC’s history.

The war had an enormous impact on the PHS. Not only did the war require expansion of its programs and personnel, but the PHS Act of 1944.

To consolidate multiple campuses into one, Robert Woodruff, Coca-Cola chairman and long-time board member of neighboring Emory University, made possible the deeding of 15 acres to the United States Public Health Service in 1947 for CDC.

The Corps also recently initiated a transformation to enlarge the size of the Corps. It was previously established in 1953 as the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, (HEW) and is still led by the Surgeon General.

In 1979, HEW's educational tasks were transferred to the new Department of Education and the remaining divisions of HEW were reorganized as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

By 1981, all of the marine hospitals and clinics had closed.

1992 - More than 1000 PHS officers were deployed to South Dade County, Florida following Hurricane Andrew

The PHS was reorganized by the secretary of Health and Human Services in 1995 with the operating divisions (agencies) reporting to the secretary instead of the assistant secretary for health (who now heads the Staff Office of Public Health and Science). The eight PHS operating agencies are:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Established in 1999 by Congress from its predecessor agency, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the AHQR focuses on quality of care and medical care outcomes, rather than the health system and health care policy.

2001 - More than 1,000 PHS officers were deployed to New York City after the attacks on September 11, 2001 to aid victims and provide medical and mental health services to responders and rescue workers.

2005 - more than 2,000 PHS officers deployed to set up field hospitals and render aid and assistance to evacuees and responders in the wakes of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane Wilma

Corps officers have been part of the Navy's Pacific Partnership (in the Pacific basin) and Continuing Promise (in the Caribbean/west Atlantic) since 2007.

The action plan for the PHS has been translated into the main goals of Healthy People 2010 : (1) increase quality and years of healthy life, and (2) eliminate health disparities.