Surgeon General of the United States Navy | |
---|---|
![]() Seal of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery | |
since December 5, 2023 | |
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery United States Navy Medical Corps | |
Type | Head of the medical branch of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps |
Abbreviation | SGN |
Member of | Office of the Chief of Naval Operations |
Reports to | Secretary of the Navy Chief of Naval Operations Commandant of the United States Marine Corps |
Residence | Suite 5113, 7700 Arlington Boulevard, Falls Church, Virginia |
Seat | Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia |
Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | 4 years |
Constituting instrument | 10 U.S.C. § 8077 |
Formation | 1869 |
First holder | William Maxwell Wood |
Deputy | Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy/Deputy Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Navy matters) Chief, Medical Corps/Medical Officer of the Marine Corps (Marine matters) |
Website | Official website |
The surgeon general of the Navy (SGN) is the most senior commissioned officer of the Medical Corps of the United States Navy and is the principal advisor to the United States secretary of the navy, chief of naval operations and director of the defense health agency on all health and medical matters pertaining to the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. As head of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, the surgeon general also manages Navy and Marine healthcare policy, administering the services' healthcare and biomedical research facilities as well as the various staff corps of BUMED, including the Medical Corps and an enlisted corps. The surgeon general is also a member of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
From 1965 to 2019, the surgeon general was appointed as a vice admiral, until the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 struck the surgeon general's statutory rank.[1] Currently the surgeon general of the Navy is the only uniformed service surgeon general to not be a three-star general or flag officer. There have been several attempts by the House of Representatives over the years to address the rank inequality but all have failed. The House version of the 2023,[2][3] 2024,[4] and 2025[5] NDAA each included a clause restoring the surgeon general's three-star rank, but the clause is removed when the Senate reconcilies their version of the NDAA with the House's. The closest acknowledgement from the Senate of the rank disparity came via the of the 2024 NDAA, when they attached a house report (H. Rept. 118-301) to it, acknowledging that the Navy does have the authority to allow the surgeon general to be designated a three-star rank, if an officer is nominated for appointment and confirmed.
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