The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD). By policy, the Surgeon General (TSG) serves as Commanding General,

U.S. Army Medical Command The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is a direct reporting unit of the U.S. Army that formerly provided command and control of the Army's fixed-facility medical, dental, and veterinary treatment facilities, providing preventive care, medical res ...

(MEDCOM) as well as head of the AMEDD. The surgeon general's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) and are located in

Falls Church Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

, Virginia. Since 1959, TSG has been appointed in the grade of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

. By law, TSG may be appointed from any of the six officer branches of the AMEDD. However, prior to the 43rd Surgeon General, Lt. Gen.

Patricia Horoho Patricia D. Horoho (née Dallas; born March 21, 1960) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 43rd Surgeon General of the United States Army and Commanding General of the United States Army Medical Command. She was th ...

— an Army Nurse Corps officer — all appointed and confirmed surgeons general have been

Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

officers — military physicians. The incumbent Surgeon General is medical administrator Lieutenant General

R. Scott Dingle Raymond Scott Dingle is a United States Army lieutenant general who serves as the 45th Surgeon General of the United States Army and Commanding General, United States Army Medical Command. Dingle graduated from Morgan State University in 1988 with ...

, a Medical Service Corps officer. The 44th Army Surgeon LTG Nadja West retired on July 19, 2019.

Duties

As a commanding general, TSG provides advice and assistance to the Chief of Staff, Army (CSA) and to the

Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

(SECARMY) on all health care matters pertaining to the U.S. Army and its military health care system. The incumbent is responsible for development, policy direction, organization and overall management of an integrated Army-wide health service system and is the medical materiel developer for the Army. These duties include formulating policy regulations on health service support, health hazard assessment and the establishment of health standards. is assisted by the Deputy Surgeon General.

History

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

established the Medical Service of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

on July 27, 1775, and placed a "Chief physician & director general" of the Continental Army as its head. The first five surgeons general of the U.S. Army served under this title. An

Act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

of May 28, 1789, established a "Physician general" of the U.S. Army. Only two physicians, doctors Richard Allison and James Craik, served under this nomenclature. A Congressional Act of March 3, 1813, cited the "Physician & surgeon general" of the U.S. Army. That nomenclature remained in place until the Medical Department was established by the Reorganization Act of April 14, 1818. Additionally, physicians assigned to the U.S. Army were not accorded military rank until 1847.

Surgeons General of the U.S. Army and their precursors

*Note: The

AMEDD Museum The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches (or "Corps"). It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the me ...

at Fort Sam Houston,

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, has a display on the Army Surgeons General, including images of each one, except for Dr. Richard Allison.

Agencies, centers, offices, and programs within the OTSG

Military Vaccine Agency The Military Vaccine Agency (MILVAX) is a U.S. government program operating within the Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General which supports all five U.S. Armed Services to enhance military medical readiness by coordinating U.S. Department of D ...

(MILVAX) * Borden Institute *

U.S. Army Medical Information Technology Center The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(USAMITC) *

Army Human Research Protections Office An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

(AHRPO) *

Pharmacovigilance Center Term Given By Tushar Sharma (UPES Batch 2025) Pharmacovigilance (PV, or PhV), also known as drug safety, is the pharmaceutical science relating to the "collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention" of adverse effects with pharma ...

References and notes

*Heitman, Francis B. (1903), ''Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903''; Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 2 vol. (Vol. 1, pp 41–42 details the Medical Department.)

External links

*
OTSG Portal

Surgeon General Consultant Program

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Surgeon General, Army United States Military medicine in the United States * *Surgeon 1813 establishments in the United States