Complete Story
02/07/2026
Public Health Service Corner
CDR Paul Roszko, MD
Welcome to the Public Health Service Corner! The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS) is one of the 8 uniformed services of the United States and was founded in 1798 when Congress established the US Marine Hospital Service. For over 227 years, officers in the USPHS have served to protect the United States against disease and respond to public health emergencies.
The PHS Corner aims to bring attention to the activities and accomplishments of the Commissioned Corps. In this edition of the PHS Corner, we will highlight some of the big updates and achievements from 2025:
The USPHS welcomed the appointment of the 18th Assistant Secretary of Health, ADM Brian Christine. Dr. Christine is a practicing urologist who previously served in the US Army National Guard and comes from a family of military veterans. His stated goal is to increase the visibility of the USPHS Commissioned Corps, ensuring officers are on the front line improving the health of the nation. He also aims to improve the readiness, resilience, and unity of the Commissioned Corps through programs such as PHS Fit.
Following the theme of increased visibility, the Commissioned Corps saw an uptick in deployment activities in 2025. This has included multiple deployments for Operation Enhanced Southern Border, where officers are deployed to provide medical care for ICE detainees at multiple holding facilities across the United States. Officers in Health and Human Services have also been deployed for up to 120-day assignments at Indian Health Service (IHS) locations with critical staffing needs.
The USPHS issued multiple updates to its personnel policies with the aim of increasing parity with the armed forces as it relates to pay and compensation. This includes the approval of a new Health Professions Special Pays policy, which introduced 6-year retention bonuses; access to Health Care Spending (HCFSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA); and updates to the parental leave policy, bringing it in line with current policies of the armed forces.
Updates were also announced to promotion board policies, which include a multiple-year effort to streamline promotion packages and reduce the amount of time an officer needs to complete their package and submit it to the promotion board. This effort also includes updates to the promotion precepts, which are re-aligned to the expected roles and responsibilities of an officer depending upon their rank and experience.
Finally, the Commissioned Corps continued to hire throughout the year in spite of a government hiring freeze. A new change in policy includes a new call to active duty candidates being directed to accept an initial assignment with one of five high-priority agencies (ICE Health Service Corps, US Coast Guard, Defense Health Agency Public Health Emergency Response Strike Teams (PHERST), Indian Health Service, and Bureau of Prisons). Upon completion of the initial assignment (typically a minimum time on station of 2 years), officers can explore opportunities with other agencies. Persons currently working at a federal agency as a civilian who wish to join the USPHS as a commissioned officer will be given the opportunity to remain with their current agency.
Things to look forward to in 2026 include continued mobilization of the Commissioned Corps, implementation of the PHS Fit program, including Service Workout Wednesday, and implementation of biannual physical fitness tests.
If anyone has any questions about the US Public Health Service, feel free to reach out to me at Paul.roszko@va.gov.
