President Obama established the White House Council on Women and Girls in order to establish a coordinated federal response to issues that particularly impact women and girls and to ensure that federal programs and policies adequately address such issues. The Commissioned Corps of the U. S. Public Health Service (Corps) is one of the federal agencies committed to furthering the mission and function of the council under the leadership of Surgeon General VADM Regina M. Benjamin. Although nearly fifty percent of its officers are women, the Corps has not systematically reviewed or addressed issues of concern to female officers nor has there been a special emphasis on public health issues of particular concern to women and girls. To ensure that women’s issues are reviewed and addressed, the Surgeon General, VADM Regina M. Benjamin has established the Commissioned Corps Women’s Issues Advisory Board (CCWIAB). The CCWIAB will identify and analyze key issues that impact women in the Corps and develop an action plan to address the issues.

With the assistance of the Surgeon General’s Policy Advisory Council Representatives and Chief Professional Officers, from among 23 nominations of officers 12 voting members were reviewed and approved by the Surgeon General to serve on the CCWIAB. The Board will be Chaired by RADM Sandra Kweder (FDA) and Co-Chaired by CAPT Lynn Price (BOP). Topics of interest for the Board include but are not limited to: breastfeeding, domestic violence, mentoring, and deployment barriers. To address these and other important issues, the Board will be working very closely with organizations such as the Office of Women’s Health and the Department of Defense. It is anticipated that the first CCWIAB meeting will be held on March 1st at 1:00 pm.

For more information about the CCWIAB, please contact LCDR Tracy Powell at tracy.powell@hhs.gov or 240.453.6083.