Frequently Asked Questions

A career pathway is a guide to help you navigate opportunities that reflect your passions, interests, and aspirations. A career pathway offers a visible roadmap for different career options and provides general suggestions and ideas for training and development aligned to the pathway chosen. A career pathway is also agnostic to professional categories, that is, any officer from any professional category can participate and take charge of their career based on their passions, interests, and as opportunities present themselves. A career pathway also supports self-assessment for career development and progression.

Career pathways are intended for active duty and Ready Reserve officers from all professional categories and all officer levels.

Clinical Care: Designed for PHS officers who want to focus their careers on providing clinical care related to diagnosis or treatment of illness, including operating in underserved and vulnerable, hazardous, and/or isolated duty locations.

Applied Public Health: Designed for PHS officers with career goals focused on preventative health services (e.g., education, communication, outreach, screening, counseling, development of programs and policy) to prevent disease and mitigate health threats that have already emerged, including those encountered in emergency situations or while serving underserved and vulnerable populations, and operating in hazardous and/or isolated duty locations.

National Security: Designed for PHS officers with a passion for preparing and protecting the nation against incidents with public health consequences. The focus is on PHS officers who want to build their careers focused on preparedness and National Security nationally and globally (e.g., emergency preparedness, animal health, environmental health, safety, regulation, threat identification, recovery planning, scientific research, secure information analysis).

Health Strategy and Innovation: Designed for PHS officers who want to build their careers utilizing business intelligence and health analytics to guide policy, research, regulation, innovation, information technology, and strategy.

There is no one career pathway that is more important or prestigious than the other. All career pathways and the tracks within it are important for the mission of the USPHS Commissioned Corps.

Career pathways: (a) provide you a big picture of the career options that can be pursued, (b) offer an avenue for pursuing your passions and interests, (c) reveal career options that might not have occurred to you, (d) help you seek out new and different opportunities to reenergize your career, and (e) provide a clear career direction and a more fulfilling career.

Use of the career pathways program is optional. The purpose is to provide you with information and resources to assist in identifying and pursuing career and professional development opportunities. These resources will help facilitate career and professional development conversations between you and your supervisor, mentor, or Chief Professional Officer (CPO).

No. The career pathways are distinct and different from the promotion benchmarks. There is some overlap in the training and/or development opportunities for career pathways and promotion benchmarks, but career pathways are not intended to guarantee promotion. The career pathways relate to and support meeting Benchmark Precepts 2, 3, and 4 – Education, Training and Professional Development, Career Progression, and Officership/Mentorship/Readiness, respectively; but again, do not guarantee promotion.

Career Pathways initially launched April 2023 and will be updated periodically.

Please reach out to PHSCareerPathways@hhs.gov to help you navigate the webpage and access resources. Please also reach to your CPO or mentor, who can offer guidance in pursuit of your career goals. Ask them about their career journeys and how you can carve out your own path.

Multiple tracks: Each career pathway offers various “career tracks” for horizontal and vertical progression across three officer levels (i.e., junior, mid, senior/executive) for qualified PHS.

Flexibility: At any point during your career, you can switch tracks within a specific career pathway or move onto another career pathway based on your interests and passions.

Key competencies/skills: All existing USPHS Commissioned Corps competencies/skills apply to all PHS officers. Key competencies/skills are highlighted to provide focus as you seek out learning and development opportunities. In addition, OPM’s Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) have been added to each pathway for the senior officer/executive level. For more information about competencies/skills, see the section titled “Competencies and Skills.”

Progressive mastery: Competencies/skills and suggested learnings listed in higher levels assume mastery/achievement of those listed in lower levels; competencies/skills and additional learning are provided at multiple levels to account for mandatory Officership training and development of critical specialty skills.

Consistency: Competencies/skills and suggested learning and development opportunities for each officer level (i.e., junior, mid, senior/executive) will be similar where appropriate to support and facilitate movement across pathways.

Mission priority positions: Sample mission priority positions, though not exhaustive, are provided for each career track. CPOs and mentors can guide discussions using a more comprehensive list of all mission priority positions.

Curated learning: Learning and development opportunities tailored for each track and officer level is intended as examples for consideration. Additional learning and development opportunities may be available through USPHS Commissioned Corps’ Learning Management System (LMS), partner agencies, and professional associations.

Not at all! The career pathways were designed so any PHS officer from any professional category may pursue any career pathway. You are encouraged to review all the career pathways, even if they are very different from the type of work you presently perform.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defines a competency as “a measurable pattern of knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and other characteristics that an individual needs to perform work roles or occupational functions successfully.”

USPHS Commissioned Corps has developed foundational competencies/skills that apply to all PHS officers. The competencies/skills are grouped into 4 areas: (1) Officership, (2) Deployment, (3) Specialty Skills, and (4) Leadership.

In addition to USPHS Commissioned Corps competencies/skills, we have identified additional key competencies/skills to expand your skillset.

The sample list of learning opportunities is to be taken as a suggestion or guide. You are encouraged to explore other USPHS Commissioned Corps opportunities, external sources (e.g., FEMA, CDC, OPM), and training available at your agencies for opportunities to expand your skills.

You are asked to work within your constraints; however, demonstrate to your supervisor the benefit of attending trainings and developing your skillset. Discuss the constraints with your CPO, mentor, and/or Agency Liaison to find a solution.

You are encouraged to tap a variety of sources to support your learning, including accessing existing programs at the USPHS Commissioned Corps, maintaining connections with the Professional Advisory Committees (PACs), and initiating additional activities that support your career development. Talk to your mentor or CPO to help you get started.

CCHQ has created this innovative and interactive career pathway program as an additional tool for your toolbox.

1. CCHQ will update the training/development opportunities in the program annually or as appropriate to ensure cutting edge training.
2. CCHQ will work to explore scholarship opportunities for officers who need financial support in completing tracks within their chosen pathway.
3. CCHQ will help identify new and exciting training and development opportunities and share these offerings with officers.

Many of the training opportunities suggested within the program are free. However, there are some suggested training opportunities that have costs associated with them. Just as you would enroll in a Certificate, Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree program paid with your personal funds; likewise, some of these training opportunities will have an associated fee. Again, this program is a resource to guide you as you explore additional/new career opportunities.

No, you can substitute other training courses that meet the competency identified within the chosen track.

Utilize this link to select a pathway/track. Once the upgrade to CCHQ’s LMS is complete, you will register on the Career Pathway page within the LMS and identify which pathway you have chosen to embark upon. You will then upload completion certificates or completion documentation within the LMS for each competency within the track. Once all training courses that meet the essence of the competency are completed, a completion certificate will be generated for you. You will also have access to generating a transcript of courses completed within the LMS.

The 2018 Comprehensive Assessment of the UPSHS Commissioned Corps revealed challenges with workforce retention and professional development.  In response, USPHS Commissioned Corps identified four aspirational career pathways that provide PHS officers with career-enriching options as they support and execute on mission priorities.

The four career pathways (i.e., Clinical Care, Applied Public Health, National Security, and Health Strategy and Innovation) were defined and approved by senior leaders in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and Commissioned Corps Headquarters (CCHQ), namely the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (PDASH), Deputy Surgeon General (DSG), Director of CCHQ, and Deputy Director of Division of Commissioned Corps Services (DCCS).

The four career pathways were further developed to encompass distinct career tracks by: (1) analyzing existing USPHS Commissioned Corps data (e.g., billets, promotion benchmarks, competencies, training needs analysis), (2) interviewing CPOs and internal and external Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and (3) researching external sources (e.g., journals, professional associations, other uniformed services).

USPHS Commissioned Corps defined four overarching career pathways that reflect the major career options available to PHS officers based on the USPHS Commissioned Corps’ mission priorities and its future needs. By being trained/developed in career fields meeting USPHS mission priorities, this ensures that you can continually [Mission] protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of our Nation. In turn, you continue to be fulfilled and trained with the most timely information as you serve as the [Vision] Nation’s preeminent public health asset called upon to solve public health challenges and address daily and emergent public health needs, throughout the United States and globally.

Yes, PAC leadership, Agency Liaisons, and CPOs have been instrumental in creating this program since its inception and have committed to helping you utilize this resource and identify available training/development opportunities.