RADM Christopher G. Halliday, D.D.S., M.P.H., will retire June 1, 2012 following 24 years of active-duty service in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service.

RADM Halliday’s post as the Chief of Staff to the Surgeon General began November 30, 2010. He has been responsible for the direction and management of the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), including Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness, Division of the Volunteer Civilian Medical Reserve Corps, Division of Systems Integration and Division Science and Communications...

On March 30th, 2012 the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Response Teams received recognition from Secretary Sebelius as finalists in the HHSinnovates competition. The award was presented to the teams for their efforts and innovation in various Community Health and Service Missions (CHASM). There were over 80 submissions in the competition and the teams received honorable mention as part of the top 6 finalists...

The Physician Professional Advisory Committee (PPAC) is seeking motivated Commissioned Corps and civil service physicians who are interested in serving as members on this advisory panel.

The mission of the PPAC is to provide advice and consultation to the Surgeon General on issues related to the professional practice and personnel activities of the Medical Category. Another particularly important role of the PPAC is to provide PHS-related information and mentorship to medical officers...

The Engineer Professional Advisory Committee (EPAC) is seeking motivated engineers of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps) and civil service within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to serve as members of the E-PAC...

The Defense Manpower and Data Center (DMDC) has begun an initiative to replace 64K and 72K Common Access Cards (CACs) currently in circulation. The CAC is your Uniformed Services ID card. 64K/72K refers to a specific card stock still in circulation. The Department of Defense (DoD) has been replacing these ID cards through attrition and is now replacing the last of these cards that have been deprecated by DoD from active use...

The purpose of this message is to remind you of the political activity restrictions that apply to all federal employees. These important rules help to ensure that the Government will function in a neutral, nonpartisan manner in carrying out its obligations to the American public...

The Commissioned Officer Training Academy, in association with the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment, wishes to extend congratulations to graduates of the Officer Basic Course (OBC) 51.

OBC training is a 2-week course of study for new calls to active duty to the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps). Officers learn about the history of the Corps and establish a foundation of knowledge in preparation for their Corps careers...

DoD’s Defense Manpower and Data Center (DMDC) has announced a new Web address for the Uniformed Service ID Card Appointment Scheduler. You should use the Appointment Scheduler in concert with the RAPIDS Site Locator to find an ID card office in your area and to schedule ID card appointments for yourself and your dependents...

Effective May 1, 2012, Met Life became the dental carrier for the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP). At this time, MetLife will provide dental coverage to over 2 million family members of uniformed service active duty personnel, members of the Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve, their eligible family members and survivors. The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) is included in this coverage audience. In light of this announcement, many officers have been inquiring as to how this change effects their coverage, benefits and so forth...

The Regional Incident Support Team – National Capital Region (RIST-NCR) has proven to be integral to the overall success of the region’s Emergency Support Function 8. The team is comprised of PHS Officers who live and work in the National Capital Region (NCR). RIST-NCR is one of eleven RIST teams. Each RIST team is a short-term response asset available to Regional Emergency Coordinators and Regional Health Administrators within the region...

Recently, officers received Personnel Orders (P.O.) in their eOPF with the phrase "Change of Assignment" in the Type of Action field. Please note that all officers are receiving these personnel orders as a step in the process of the billet/position transformation. In addition, the P.O. contains a new individual position number. New position numbers have been assigned to the current position of all officers. This number is called a Direct Access Billet System (DABS) number which identifies the billet/position number in Direct Access (DA)...

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