OK...no Googling... who is the Surgeon General right now?

[zulchzulu]

Do you know?

[marimour]

1. crickets..........lol

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Richard Carmona?

[goodhue]

9. Carmona left in 2006

somebody has been serving is an "acting" capacity since

[Barack_America]

3. Isn't that a trick question?

[zulchzulu]

4. Link...

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/biographies/biosg.html

And then this:

Duties of the Surgeon General

The duties of the Surgeon General are to:

* Protect and advance the health of the Nation through educating the public, advocating for effective disease prevention and health promotion programs and activities, and, providing a highly recognized symbol of national commitment to protecting and improving the public's health,
* Articulate scientifically based health policy analysis and advice to the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the full range of critical public health, medical, and health system issues facing the Nation,
* Provide leadership in promoting special Departmental health initiatives, e.g., tobacco and HIV prevention efforts, with other governmental and non-governmental entities, both domestically and internationally,
* Administer the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps, which is a uniquely expert, diverse, flexible, and committed career force of public health professionals who can respond to both current and long-term health needs of the Nation,
* Provide leadership and management oversight for PHS Commissioned Corps involvement in Departmental emergency preparedness and response activities,
* Elevate the quality of public health practice in the professional disciplines through the advancement of appropriate standards and research priorities, and
* Fulfill statutory and customary Departmental representational functions on a wide variety of Federal boards and governing bodies of non-Federal health organizations, including the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the National Library of Medicine, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the American Medical Association.

I think you have to wear one of those jackets will military bars on them or something...

[Barack_America]

15. Make Gupta go back to school for a Masters in Public Health and I'll stop bitching about him.

Is it to much to ask for a person who has actual training in public health to be appointed to lead our nation's public health efforts?

[FrenchieCat]

The SG doesn't lead the Public Health efforts........but he does report

to the Assistant Secretary of health, who IS the overall head of the US Public Health Service.

The Surgeon General serves a four-year term of office and is normally the highest ranking uniformed officer of the PHSCC, holding the grade of a three-star vice admiral while in office.<1> In carrying out all responsibilities, the Surgeon General reports to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), who is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues, and is the overall head of the United States Public Health Service (PHS). The ASH would be the only person that could outrank the Surgeon General if he or she is also a commissioned officer in the PHSCC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Yeah, they should be trained in public health.

Just like SG greats: C. Everett Koop and Jocelyn Elders.

Oh, wait. Their training was in medicine. Just like Gupta.

Whoops!

[Barack_America]

29. And what is your opinion of their tenures as SG?

Overall since we demoted SG to a "public relations" role, fillable by just about anyone, how has public health gone in this country? How seriously has public health been taken? Is that level of commitment acceptable in the future?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. What's your opinion?

Koop and Elders are the best two SG's I can remember at the position.

Can you think of any better?

"Overall since we demoted SG to a "public relations" role, fillable by just about anyone, how has public health gone in this country?"

Public health has improved since those two became SGs. Obviously paying for health care needs improvement.

[Barack_America]

37. .

It's a bit difficult because I was too young to form a real-time opinion of either of them.

It seems to me that Koop accomplished more as a professor at CHOP, but I'm admittedly biased because I'm at Penn and rotated through the department he founded. I see them both as recognizable figureheads that were influential in their own way, but that neither tackled the larger public health issues our country faces. Though, to be fair, both Koop and Elders both met with hostility from their respective administrations (remember that bizarre "abortion report" that Koop ran into trouble with? I barely remember it, except that it was supposed to be this substantial report he compiled that never ended up seeing the light of day).

But my feeling is that if Obama is going to take healthcare seriously, then he's going to need a serious public health person advising Daschle (this too is part of the SG's role). I just don't see that Gupta has the experience in either public health or health policy to do that. I understand that Gupta is "interested" in public health, but it seems to me that someone who has a serious public health interest 1). doesn't go into neurosurgery (which is pretty removed from the topic) and 2). signs up for one of the myriad of fellowships designed to give health practioners some real training in the topic.

[marimour]

35. thats some pretty low standards there.

About good percentage of the people in my major take the extra year and get the MPH at my school (top program). Truest me they are not prepared to be Surgeon General. For most people I knew it was an easy way to have a BS year until they got out into the real world.

[JayMusgrove]

41. Do you have an MPH? Is that what you think qualifies people?

Who have studied and written on public health issues for over 10 years, who happen to be MD's with ongoing practices in neurosurgery, and academic appointments in major universities? You insist they go back to school and can't learn or be well versed on their own?


An MPH has little or no medical training. Has little or no ability to be interviewed on international news channels and deliver coherent messages to millions about health risks. Dr Gupta has been doing this for years. It's not exactly brain surgery to get an MPH degree. Oh yeah, Dr Gupta also does brain surgery

[SteppingRazor]

5. Ooooooo! Trick question! n/t

[tekisui]

6. An admiral, I think.

I admit I don't know his name.

[Bucky]

21. I always wondered why they gave the Surgeon General an admiral's rank

Traditionally speaking, the swabbies' idea of medical treatment was, if it's broken saw it off. At the very least they should change the job title to "Surgeon-Admiral."

[grantcart]

30. They are actually part of the DOD and have a lot of uniformed personnel

I went to an Indian Hospital (run by the same department) and their full time officials are all uniformed personnel.

[DevonRex]

7. Pat Boone?

[FrenchieCat]

Dr, Laura?

I give up!

[merh]

8. michael moore?

I just guessed. :silly:

[MissMarple]

10. Ermm.....Dr. Spock?

Actually, I have no idea, do we even have one? If we do, he is probably a winger fundamentalist.

[Duer 157099]

11. C. Everett Koop!!!

No?

[Pharaoh]

12. Doctor Numbnuts I presume.....

:party:

[Clear Blue Sky]

13. Dr House?

[DevonRex]

26. If it were, I'd listen to every damned word he said and drool a bit

while doing it. :)

[uponit7771]

14. Donald Duck ......dammit!!!!! :-) Good point

[EFerrari]

16. Aim low.

[Starry Messenger]

17. :)

[billyoc]

18. The Madman from Michigan himself.

Doctor Detroit.

[Bucky]

19. Dr. Jack Shephard

and you've been jackfaced!     Yar!

 

[cliffordu]

22. Hannibal Lecter??

[rasputin1952]

23. There is an...

Acting SG...Rear Admiral Garlson(sp).

I suppose an acting SG does everything the real SG does...:shrug:

[grantcart]

27. I believe this answer is correct

It came up in the primaries once


I don't know why

[Number23]

24. Last one I remember was Dr. David Satcher. Really nice chap.

[Perky]

25. Steven Galson....but I did phone a friend...LOL

[DevonRex]

28. Way to get around the No Googlez thing. You're a crafty one. :)

[grantcart]

31. missing rank - wrong answer

[DevonRex]

33. Well, I think it's Admiral Doctor No.

[zulchzulu]

34. That's right! Steverino The Galson Guy!

Who?

[Cha]

36. Thanks, 'cause I was hoping to find out

on this thread.

[TahitiNut]

40. He's a REAR Admiral ...

... so I guess that make him a proctologist? :dunce:

[TahitiNut]

38. Jack Kervorkian

... and he's assisting in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. :dunce:

[yardwork]

39. There isn't one. The last one stepped down and the chimp didn't replace him.

That demonstrates once again the level of interest the chimp has in promoting health care in the U.S.

[JayMusgrove]

42. Also shows that these two facts are true................

1)........DU posters have no idea what they are talking about 90% of the time, but post their disapproval of Obama anyway, because they like to see their posts on "the internets"............

2) ............there is nothing special about Surgeon General that hasn't been filled by MD's before, both honorably and otherwise, and Dr. S Gupta is just about as familiar and qualified than any previous S G has been.........so this again is more proof of my fist point above..........

[Phx_Dem]

43. I'm pretty sure it's Dr. Phil.

Actually, I have no fucking clue. I've never known who the Surgeon General was except C. Everett Coop, but I have no idea when he was SG. I just remember the name.