Meet the New Chief Professional Officer for the Dental Category

RADM Christopher G. Halliday

RADM Christopher G. Halliday was selected as the Chief Professional Officer for the Dental category effective 1 May 2006. As Chief Dental Officer, he is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) dental professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General.

RADM Halliday received a Bachelor of Arts degree in the combined studies of biology, psychology and anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983, a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Marquette University in 1987, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2002. RADM Halliday also completed the Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives training program at the George Washington University Medical Center in 2005.

Commissioned in 1988 and assigned to the Indian Health Service (IHS) in Barrow, AK, he served as a Staff Dental Officer, and later as Chief of Dental Services, for the North Slope Borough and was responsible for dental patient care at eight Inupiat Eskimo villages on the North Slope of Alaska. In 1990, he transferred to the Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle PHS Indian Health Center in Bloomfield, NM, as Chief of Dental Services. In 1992 he became the Area/Regional Dental Disease Prevention Officer for the Navajo Area IHS, stationed at the Navajo Area Office in Window Rock, AZ.

In 1998, RADM Halliday transferred to the Health Resources and Services Administration in Rockville, MD, as a Senior Program Management Officer, co-managing dental grant programs that included funding for residencies in dental public health, general dentistry and pediatric dentistry. With a budget of $4.5 million, the program was instrumental in the creation of grants to be awarded to dental residency programs.

In 1999, he became the Assistant Headquarters Dental Consultant for IHS and became the Acting Director of the IHS Division of Oral Health in 2000. In his present duties, he serves as principal dental consultant for all IHS-direct, Tribally-managed and Urban dental clinics serving IHS beneficiaries. He also serves as the advisor to the Director of IHS on all matters concerning oral health. RADM Halliday has strived to implement and manage the most efficient, practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods of public health dental care delivery. He provides leadership to over 1,800 IHS, Tribal and Urban Program dental employees, and manages a Fiscal Year 2006 operating budget of $117 million.

RADM Halliday served on numerous national recruitment, retention, promotion and readiness work groups and has demonstrated notable interaction and leadership in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and Dental category activities. He has served on several Dental Professional Advisory Committee workgroups and has established and maintained relationships with numerous public and private organizations to advocate for the oral health needs of those served by the USPHS.

He is a member of several professional organizations including the American Dental Association, American Association of Public Health Dentistry, American Dental Education Association, Society of American Indian Dentists, Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States and the Reserve Officer Association of the United States. He has served as an adjunct professor of several dental schools and has served on the American Dental Association House of Delegates.

RADM Halliday has received numerous honors and awards including an Outstanding Service Medal, a Commendation Medal, an Achievement Medal, a PHS Citation, three Outstanding Unit Citations, seven PHS Unit Commendations, a Hazardous Duty Service Award, an Isolated Hardship Service Award and a Crisis Response Service Award. In 2005, RADM Halliday was the recipient of the USPHS Dental category Jack D. Robertson Award, the highest award bestowed upon a dental officer by the USPHS Dental Professional Advisory Committee.

 

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