Biden selects female nurse to be acting surgeon general
Nation’s Doctor
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) announced that the Biden administration has chosen a nurse, Rear Admiral Susan Orsega, to serve as the nation’s Acting Surgeon General. She would be one of the first nurses to serve in the role of “the nation’s doctor.”
Former President Donald Trump in 2017 chose nurse Sylvia Trent-Adams to serve as Acting Surgeon General after firing Murthy. Richard Carmona, who served in the Bush administration, was both a physician and a nurse.
As the Acting Surgeon General, Orsega will work to provide Americans with the best scientific information to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury, according to HHS. She oversees the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, comprised of approximately 6,000 uniformed health officers who serve in nearly 800 locations around the world, promoting, protecting and advancing the health and safety of our nation, including the activation of the USPHS Commissioned Corps’ to support national covid-19 vaccination efforts. The Surgeon General has limited ability to make policy. In her current role, Orsega oversees the corps’ personnel, operations and readiness.
She replaces Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a Trump appointee, who resigned last week at President Biden’s request. Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, a career official, chose to retire after not being asked to be Acting Surgeon General.
President Biden has nominated Vivek H. Murthy, a close adviser who served as Surgeon General in the Obama administration, to return to his previous role as the nation’s top doctor, but Murthy’s confirmation hearings have not been scheduled. According to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee spokesperson Madeleine Russak, “The committee is ready to go with an aggressive scheduling of hearings once we organize, with nominations being a top priority.”
Orsega continues to serve as the Director of Commissioned Corps Headquarters (CCHQ) at the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Appointed in March 2019, she is responsible for directing all functions regarding personnel, operations, readiness, deployment and policy for the USPHS and development of the Reserve Corps. She is the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health on activities and policies related to USPHS training, deployment and total force fitness.
Orsega served as the 11th USPHS Chief Nurse Officer from May 2016 to October 2019. She advised the SG on the recruitment, deployment and career development for nursing and providing leadership to 4,500 USPHS nurses and HHS nurses. Before joining the OSG, she was assigned to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 2007- 2019, she was responsible for the operational management of 2 NIAID projects with South African and Malian Governments; involving 300 international health care professionals that provided research to over 8,000 research participants in both countries who would otherwise not receive treatment. From 2012-2019, she focused on catalyzing partnerships, building infrastructure and leading operations in Mali during periods of fluctuating security conflict, Malian government transition, Ebola and other emerging infectious disease outbreaks.
In 2015, Orsega was appointed to the NIH/NIAID Ebola trial operations team. She began her career in the USPHS in 1989 at NIH as the HIV/AIDS epidemic was unfolding.
Orsega has co-authored 22 articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented at 40 major scientific and nursing conferences around the world. She is the recipient of the American Nursing Credentialing Center’s Princess Muna Al Hussein Award in 2019, HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service in 2016, Uniformed Services University (USU) Graduate of School of Nursing Alumni of the Year award in 2015 and NIH Director’s award in 2002.