The former is interesting and unquestionably telegenic -- but the latter is highly qualified and, as it happens, the current Acting Surgeon General and a career United States Public Health Service officer.
Prior to his appointment as Acting Surgeon General, Steve Galson served as the Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As the director, RADM Galson oversaw CDER’s broad national and international programs in pharmaceutical regulation and provided leadership for 2300 physicians, statisticians, chemists, pharmacologists and other scientists, as well as administrators whose work promoted and protected public health by ensuring that safe and effective drugs are available to the American public.
RADM Galson began his Public Health Service career as an epidemiological investigator at the Centers for Disease Control after completing a residency in internal medicine at the Hospitals of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He has held senior-level positions at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy where he was the Chief Medical Officer, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
RADM Galson received his Baccalaureate Degree from Stony Brook University in 1978, an M.D. from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in 1983, and a M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1990. He is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health as well as in Occupational Medicine.
RADM Galson is the recipient of numerous PHS awards, the Robert Brutsche Award from the Commissioned Officers Association of the USPHS and the Founders Award from the Association of Military Surgeons of the US. He is also the recipient of three Secretary of Energy Gold Awards.SG for SG. And make that Steve Galson.
