The Medical Corps of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

is a staff corps consisting of military

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s in a variety of specialties. It is the senior corps among all staff corps, second in precedence only to line officers. The corps of

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

s was founded on March 3, 1871. Prior to the formal establishment of the corps, ships’ surgeons served without commissions, unless given one by the commanding officer. Those commissions would be for the duration of a specific cruise. The Medical Corps is one of the four staff corps of the Navy's

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) is an agency of the United States Department of the Navy that manages health care activities for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. BUMED operates hospitals and other healthcare ...

(BUMED), which is led by the

Surgeon General of the United States Navy 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 ...

. Facing a shortage of trained physicians to serve the needs of the Navy and Marine Corps, the Uniformed Services Health Professions Revitalization Act of 1972 was passed. This was a two-pronged act in which the

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is a health science university and professional school of the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroa ...

and the

Health Professions Scholarship Program The F. Edward Hébert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) offers prospective military physicians (Doctor of Medicine, M.D. or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O.), dentists, nurses, optometrists, psychologists, pharmacist ...

were created. In both programs, civilians are given a direct commission to the rank of

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

(O-1) in the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

which they hold throughout the four years of their

medical education Medical education is vocational education, education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship (medical), internship) and additional trainin ...

. During this time they receive financial assistance on the condition that they meet reservist requirements, maintain military standards, and agree to serve on active duty as physicians. The commitment required is at least 4 years for HPSP and 7 years of service for USUHS students. Upon graduation, the new physicians are promoted to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

(O-3) and enter active duty as medical interns (PGY-1) at a Naval Hospital. Upon completion of an internship year, a Navy physician can be deployed to the fleet as a General Medical Officer, though opportunities also exist to complete full-residency training in the specialty of their choice or undergo 6 months of training to become a Flight Surgeon or Undersea Medical Officer . RADM Bruce L. Gillingham is the 39th

and is the highest-ranking officer of the Medical Corps. The Chief of the Medical Corps is RDML

Guido F. Valdes Guido is a given name. It has been a male first name in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and Latin America, as well as other places with migration from those. Regarding origins, there ...

, who concurrently serves as Commander, Naval Medical Forces Pacific.

Qualifications and designations

Members of the Medical Corps are eligible to pursue qualification programs that lead to breast insignia such as: * Flight Surgeon Insignia (USA, USN, USAF) *

Astronaut Badge United States astronaut badges are the various badges of the United States which are awarded to military and civilian personnel of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the various child departments of the Department of Defense, ...

Surface Warfare Medical Corps Insignia The surface warfare insignia is a military badge of the United States Navy which is issued to U.S. Navy personnel who are trained and qualified to perform duties aboard United States surface warships. There are presently four classes of the sur ...

Submarine Medical Insignia Insignias and badges of the United States Navy are military badges issued by the United States Department of the Navy to naval service members who achieve certain qualifications and accomplishments while serving on both active and reserve duty ...

* Diving (Medical) Insignia *

Fleet Marine Force Insignia The Fleet Marine Force warfare insignia, also known as the Fleet Marine Force badge or FMF pin, are three military badges of the United States Navy which are issued to those U.S. Navy officers and sailors who are trained and qualified to perfor ...

Master Parachutist Badge The Parachutist Badge, also commonly referred to as "Jump Wings", is a military badge of the United States Armed Forces. Some services, such as the Marine Corps, officially refer to it as an insignia instead of a badge. The United States Space Fo ...

Seabee combat warfare specialist insignia The Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist (SCWS) insignia is a warfare qualification of the United States Navy. To be eligible to earn the SCWS insignia, personnel must first be assigned to a qualifying unit of the Naval Construction Force (Seabees) ...

Ships named after physicians

Reference:

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships The ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' (''DANFS'') is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy. When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to ...

* USS ''Begor'' (DE-711) * USS ''J. Douglas Blackwood'' (DE-219) * USS ''Boone'' (FFG-28) * USS ''Bronstein'' (DE-189) * USS ''Bronstein'' (DE-1037) * USS ''Gendreau'' (DE-639) * USS ''Grayson'' (DD-435) * USS ''Heermann'' (DD-532) * USS ''Kane'' (DD-235) * USS ''Kane'' (AGS-27) * USS ''Longshaw'' (DD-559) * USS ''Samuel S. Miles'' (DE-183) * USS ''Pinkney'' (APH-2) * USS ''Pratt'' (DE-363) * USS ''Rall'' (DE-304) * USS ''Ringness'' (DE-590) * USS ''Rixey'' (APH-3) * USS ''Tryon'' (APH-1) * USS ''William M. Wood'' (DD-715) * USS ''Wood'' (DD-317) * USNS ''Charles Drew'' (T-AKE-10)

References

External links

National Naval Medical Center Bethesda official webpage
(on USN official website). Retrieved 2009-12-05.
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth official webpage
(on USN official website). Retrieved 2009-12-05.
Naval Medical Center San Diego official webpage
(on USN official website). Retrieved 2009-12-05.
Medical Corps
Navy.com (Health Care Opportunities). Retrieved 2009-12-05.
Virtual Naval Hospital
- a digital library of military medicine and humanitarian medicine. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
Per NAVEDTRA 12966 Commander Naval Medical Education and Training Command
Retrieved 2011-01-08. {{US Navy navbox

United States Navy Medical Corps The Medical Corps of the United States Navy is a United States Navy staff corps, staff corps consisting of military physicians in a variety of specialties. It is the senior corps among all staff corps, second in precedence only to Line officer, l ...

Medical units and formations of the United States Navy

Qualifications and designations

Ships named after physicians

See also

References

External links