The "Chiefs" and "Directors" of Navy Medicine by U.S.
Navy André Sobocinski Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
January 20, 2022
Chiefs and Directors are an essential part
of Navy Medicine and have long represented the upper tiers of corps
leadership.
But why do some staff corps have a Director and others a
Chief? And if there is a distinction between these titles, why are
they often collectively referred to as “Corps Chiefs”?
Some of the first Chiefs and Directors of Navy Medicine Staff and Enlisted Corps. Clockwise from top left: Dr. Andrew Jones, 1st Director of Navy Medicine Civilian Corps (2017); HMCM Stephen Brown, Director of Hospital Corps (1979); CAPT Nellie Dewitt, Director of Nurse Corps (1947); Commodore Lewis Angelo, Director of Medical Service Corps (1982); LCDR George Reed, Chief of Dental Corps (1922); RDML Robert Higgins, Chief of Medical Corps (1989). (U.S. Navy image by André Sobocinski, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery)
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The following
is a short history of these terms and reference guide for usage.
The Chiefs of Navy Medicine:
Chief
–Middle English from French “chef” based on Latin meaning “head.”
In
the U.S. Navy a “Chief” is common parlance for “chief petty
officer.” But over 50 years before the advent of the chief petty
officer rating a “Navy Chief” referred to the head of one of five
bureaus established by Congress to administer the “technical and
material matters” of the U.S. Navy. Among these five original
bureaus was the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) founded on
August 31, 1842. In September 1842, Surgeon William Paul Crillon
Barton was appointed by the first “Chief of BUMED” by President John
Tyler. Since then, all of Dr. Barton’s successors as head of BUMED
have held the title of Chief.
The Naval Appropriations Act
of March 3, 1871 created the additional title of “Surgeon General of
the U.S. Navy” for the Chief of BUMED. With the exception of a
period when BUMED was deactivated (October 1, 1982 to September 30,
1989), all Surgeons General have held the secondary title of Chief
of BUMED; and all Deputy Surgeons General have also been known as
Deputy Chiefs of BUMED.
The Act of 1871 also formalized the
Medical Corps (i.e., the Navy’s physician corps) as an official
officer staff corps. From 1871 to 1989, the Surgeon General/ Chief
of BUMED had the collateral duty as the head of the Medical Corps
(known as Chief of the Medical Corps). In 1989, Vice Adm. James
Zimble, Navy Surgeon General, established a separate Medical Corps
office and selected physician Rear Adm. Robert Higgins as the new
Chief. Dr. Higgins was the first officer to hold the title of Chief
of the Medical Corps exclusively. Since August 1989, the role of
Medical Corps Chief has remained separate, however, several leaders
serving in position were later appointed Surgeon General/Chief of
BUMED among them: Vice Adms. Harold Koenig, Donald Arthur, Adam
Robinson and Matthew Nathan.
Today, the Dental Corps and
Chaplain Corps are the only other Navy staff corps to be led by a
“Chief.” This was not always the case though. When the Dental Corps
was established on August 22, 1912 it still fell under the sphere of
the Medical Corps. A decade later, BUMED established a separate
Dental Corps Division that was led by a Chief who was tasked with
overseeing “all technical activities pertaining to the Dental
Service, including personnel, material, and inspections.” On
February 8, 1943, by André Sobocinski, Bureau of Medicine and Surgeryity of Congress, the Dental Division was
reorganized, and granted the Chief greater André Sobocinski, Bureau of Medicine and Surgeryity over all of
naval dentistry. Two years later, the Dental Corps Chief was granted
flag rank.
For a time, the title Chief was used by corps
leadership in both the Navy Nurse Corps and the Medial Service
Corps.
Of the first 20 members of the Nurse Corps (aka, “The
Sacred Twenty), two were granted the title of “Chief Nurse.” On
October 23, 1908, Martha Pringle and Victoria White were selected as
the Navy’s first Chief Nurses (and in essence, the Navy’s first
Chief Nursing Officers or CNOs). Their responsibilities included
conferring with hospital COs and XOs on matters relating to nursing
duties, ensuring proper conduct for the nurses, compliance to
instructions, discipline, and oversite of nurses’ quarters. As the
Nurse Corps grew over the ensuing years additional Chief Nurses were
selected and placed in charge of nurses at naval hospitals. Before
the advent of commissioned rank in the Nurse Corps, the title Chief
denoted seniority and leadership in the Nurse Corps.
From
1954 to 1982, the head of the Medical Service Corps (MSC) was not a
“Director” as it is today, but a Chief. The title “Chief of the
Medical Service Corps” was established by Act of Congress of August
23, 1954 (Public Law 83-618). Capt. Willard Calkins, a 35-year
veteran of the Navy and a former Hospital Corpsman, was selected by
the Navy Surgeon General as the MSC’s first Chief. Before the advent
of flag rank in the Medical Service Corps and the reorganization of
the Medical Service Corps Division, the position of MSC Chief was
held by a senior captain (0-6).
To most of us in Navy
Medicine, a Chief is almost always synonymous with an E-7 (Chief
Petty Officer). However, when the Hospital Corps was established on
June 17th, 1898, it offered its enlisted personnel a mere three
rates—Hospital Apprentice, Hospital Apprentice First Class and
Hospital Steward—and no enlisted chiefs to be found. And though the
rate of Chief Petty Officer was first established in April 1893, it
did not exist among enlisted Corpsmen until 1916 when the Hospital
Corps was reorganized. On December 1, 1916, some 360+ Hospital
Stewards transitioned to the new rate of Chief Pharmacists Mate and
in turn became Navy Medicine’s first enlisted Chiefs.
Leading the Hospital Corps is the dual-hatted Force Master Chief
Petty Officer of BUMED/Director of the Hospital Corps. The Force
Master Chief was one of 23 senior enlisted positions established by
Adm. Elmo Zumwalt in July 1971. Originally known as the Master Chief
Petty Officer of BUMED, the Force Master Chief (also commonly known
as the “Force”) serves as the voice of some 26,000+ active and
reserve Hospital Corpsmen in the Navy on matters relating to the
welfare, health, job satisfaction, retention, morale, utilization,
and training.
The Directors of Navy Medicine:
Director – Late Middle English from Anglo-Norman French “directour”
meaning “to guide.”
The Naval Appropriations Act of
1871 can also be credited for introducing the title of “Director,”
or specifically “Medical Director,” into Navy Medicine lexicon. The
act reorganized the rank structure of the newly formalized Medical
Corps. Outside of Surgeon General/Chief of BUMED who originally held
the rank of Commodore (equivalent to 1-star), Medical Directors were
Navy Medicine’s most senior officers. The title, which continued to
be used into the twentieth century, was relative to a senior captain
(0-6).
The title Director was first used by a head of a Navy
staff corps in 1947. On April 16, 1947, the Army-Navy Nurse Act
recognized the Nurse Corps as an official staff corps and
established the title of Director of the Nurse Corps for the
Superintendent (i.e., head of Navy nurses from 1908 to 1947). On May
13, 1947—in a ceremony attended by Fleet Surgeon Chester Nimitz and
Rear Adm. Clifford Swanson, Navy Surgeon General—Capt. Nellie Dewitt
was appointed the first Director of the Nurse Corps.
The
Nurse Corps Director position was held by a senior captain (0-6)
until 1972 when Capt. Alene Duerk was promoted to flag rank. Duerk
holds the distinction as the first nurse and first woman promoted to
flag rank and set rank precedent for all leaders who followed her as
Nurse Corps Director.
A decade after the Nurse Corps got
their first flag officer, the first Medical Service Corps officer
obtained flag rank. In July 1982, Capt. Lewis “Red” Angelo, MSC,
USN, was promoted to Commodore (1-star). The Chief of the Medical
Service Corps became a directorship in 1982 and Angelo was the first
to hold the title “Director of the Medical Service Corps.”
The head of the Hospital Corps wears the title of Force Master Chief
of BUMED, but when they are overseeing issues related to education
and training and manpower they are serving the role of “Director of
the Hospital Corps.” This title was first used by Master Chief
Stephen Brown beginning in 1979. It became a permanent title and
responsibility of the leader of the Hospital Corps beginning in 1994
(with HMCM (SS) Mike Stewart).
The title of Director is also
used by Navy Medicine’s most senior civilian leaders.
In
2015, BUMED established the Executive Director (ED) position to
“increase collaboration across Navy medical functions, facilitate HQ
communication and ensure a continuity of command leadership.” Since
July 2015, Dr. Michael Malanoski has served Navy Medicine’s “ED.”
Dr. Andrew Jones reported to BUMED in May 2015 as the
“Director of the Total Force” directorate. During his time at BUMED,
Dr. Jones spearheaded the establishment of the Civilian Corps to
mentor and help foster leadership opportunities for Navy Medicine’s
11,400+ civilians. On April 30, 2017, BUMED formally established the
Navy Medicine Civilian Corps with Dr. Andrew Jones as its first
Director. In December 2021, Mr. Mark Boman, Chief of Staff, Naval
Medical Forces Pacific, became the third Director of Navy Medicine’s
Civilian Corps.
************************ In summary, "Chief" and
"Director" are titles that have been ... and continue to be ... used for
corps leadership positions in Navy Medicine. There is no Chief of
the Civilian Corps, Nurse Corps or Medical Service Corps and no
Director of the Dental Corps and Medical Corps. The Hospital Corps
is led by a Force Master Chief who also serves as a Director. There
remains a delineation between who uses these titles and it is
incorrect to call the Medical Corps Chief the “Director” of their
corps. That said, owing to the meaning of “Chief” as a head of
something, it is not necessarily wrong to generally refer to the
collective corps generally as the “Corps Chiefs.”
Sources:
Annual Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Navy to
the Secretary of the Navy for Fiscal Year 1916. Washington, DC: GPO,
1916.
Annual Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Navy to the
Secretary of the Navy for Fiscal Year 1916. Washington, DC: GPO,
1916.
BUMED Command Operations Report Calendar Year (CY)
2015.
"Chief." Merriam-Webster.com. 2022. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chief
(14 January 2022).
"Director." Merriam-Webster.com. 2022.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/director (14 January
2022).
Jones, Andrew to A.B. Sobocinski (Email). “RE: Navy
Medicine Civilian Corps -- Director versus Chief?” January 10, 2022.
Sobocinski, A.B. The Force at 50: A Retrospective of the Force
Master Chief of Navy Medicine. DVIDS, July 19, 2021. Retrieved from:
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/401222/force-50-retrospective-force-master-chief-navy-medicine
Sterner, Doris. In and Out of Harm’s Way: A History of the Navy
Nurse Corps. Seattle, WA: Peanut Butter Publishing, 1997.
Taylor, R.W. History of Naval Dentistry. Journal of the American
College of Dentists, September 1959.
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