Dr. Sam Shekar.

The mission of the Commissioned Corps is to protect, promote and advance the public health and safety of the nation. It is a uniformed service of professionals who serve in 11 health-related areas. The Corps includes active duty officers who are deployed in national health emergencies and medical corps members who are assigned to work in federal agencies and other organizations.

Dr. Shekar is an Assistant Surgeon General whose assignment is to expand the present Corps of 6,000 officers. They plan to add as many as 3,500 of the "best and brightest" Americans who are interested in advancing public health domestically and internationally.

"The Corps is the kind of opportunity that crosses all fields from research to policy to clinical and back again," Dr. Shekar told a gathering of UHL staff. "You have the flexibility to be able to do that."

Previously, Corps members regularly changed geographic locations as part of their duties. Through the transformation initiative, members can now stay in one location and be assigned to different tasks or specialties. The Corps also is expanding its partnerships to place health officers in public health agencies and in universities.

"The unique thing now is that we are creating MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with institutions at the state and local level, and even in private industries to create hosting assignments in those institutions," Dr. Shekar said.

More information about the Commissioned Corps is available online at www.usphs.gov.