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- Travel, PCS and Transportation
- Important Regulation Changes
- Travel & Transportation Entitlements Summary
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
- Temporary Duty (TDY)
- Junior COSTEP Travel Information
- Official Travel Forms
- Household Goods Officers
- Transportation
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- Table of Frequently Used Acronyms
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
- Links
- Travel and Transportation Allowances FAQ
- About Medical Affairs
- Dental
- Active Duty Dental Program
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- Immunizations
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- PHU FAQs
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- About Personnel & Career Management
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- Nominations Procedures and Forms
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- Approval Levels
- Types of Recognition & Awards Criteria
- Non-PHS Awards
- Write-Up (Narrative) Guidance & Tips
- List of OPDIV Awards Coordinators (PDF, 67kb)
- List of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- 2021 USPHS Awards Process Flowchart (PDF, 702kb)
- FAQs
- May 2022 Officer Awards
- DEERS Information (PDF, 139kb)
- Important Information Regarding DEERS and ID Cards During COVID-19 (PDF, 57kb)
- eCORPS Information
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- Link to list of Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairs (PDF, 19kb)
- About Policy
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- Promotion Ceremony Protocol (PDF, 126kb)
- SGHG Drill and Ceremonies Manual (PDF, 3.39mb)
- Uniform Specifications
- PHS Hard Shoulder Boards and Sleeve Insignia (Male and Female) (PDF, 828kb)
- PHS Soft Shoulder Marks (Unisex) (PDF, 324kb)
- Medical Requirements for Promotion
- Force Readiness Information
- Link to list of Chief Professional Officers (CPO) (PDF, 348kb)
- Link to list of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- Promotion Board Recommendations
- Not promoted? Now What?
- FAQs
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- Officer Promotion Packet Verification System (OPPVS) Timeline & FAQs
- Promotion, Readiness and Compliance FAQs
- Permanent Promotion Eligibility Chart
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- Visit CDC.gov for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Public Health Updates
As Public Health Service Officers and America’s Health Responders, we stand ready to preserve public health and national security during national or global health emergencies. Our mission is to be out the door as soon as requested, as this is an “all hands on deck” situation. All Corps officers were placed on involuntary deploy or "alert" status effective Wednesday, March 25, 2020, irrespective of the 'on-call month' status. Under Commissioned Corps Directive 121.02, "Deployment and Readiness," as directed by Assistant Secretary for Health, Commissioned Corps Headquarters will deploy Commissioned Corps officers assigned to HHS OpDivs/StaffDivs, either voluntarily or involuntarily and without supervisory approval, who are not considered mission critical, for deployments, under the current National Emergency. Mission critical requests sent to CCHQ are not final until the request is approved by the CCHQ Director as per the POM 821.76 ”Deployment Procedures”. An officer with a non-HHS organization may be deployed in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement/Understanding between the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the non-HHS organization.
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Officer Spotlight
CDR Sarah-Blythe Ballard
“Through my commission as a Public Health Service officer, I hope to leave the world a little better than it was when I arrived.”
CDR Sarah-Blythe Ballard’s first exposure to the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps was in 2014, serving as the medical coordinator for the International Medical Corps Ebola Rapid Response Initiative in Liberia. CDR Ballard was so impressed by the USPHS mission and the quality of its officers, serving critical functions providing high-quality care for healthcare workers, that she decided to commission as a Public Health Service officer herself.
During that 7-month deployment to Liberia, she led and provided over 1,000 hours of direct patient care at the 97-bed Kakata Ebola Treatment Unit, implemented a domestic helicopter air-evacuation system for Ebola-infected patients and biospecimens, and directed Hot Zone training for a cadre of USPHS Team 2 deployers arriving to support the USPHS’s Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU).
Currently serving in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Resident Advisor to Kenya, CDR Ballard is seconded to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Working in tandem with the national malaria control program, the PMI team in Kenya develops and implements an annual $34 million Malaria Operational Plan, covering a range of activities including vector control, case management, operational research, surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation. CDR Ballard works among diverse stakeholders, including international partners, local institutions, and the private sector, to leverage funding and optimize malaria control efforts.
Prior to joining the USPHS Commissioned Corps as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in 2017, CDR Ballard served as the Head of Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6’s Parasitology Department in Lima, Peru, overseeing multidisciplinary staff in three laboratories and 12 harsh field sites. Before that, she served as an operational flight surgeon at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, deploying as a medical officer in charge of 1,800 U.S. Marines (deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan) and 500 U.S. Navy Sailors (deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq), with detachments to Djibouti, El Salvador, Qatar, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific. Prior to those positions, CDR Ballard served as coordinator for the Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care Center at Naval Medical Center San Diego, overseeing medical care for Wounded Warriors returning from global operations.
Being part of the USPHS Commissioned Corps has afforded many opportunities for CDR Ballard to serve global populations surrounding conditions that impact vulnerable populations.
Career highlights include leading a policy changing clinical trial demonstrating the superiority of high- over low-dose primaquine for the radical cure of vivax malaria in the Americas, contributing to the introduction of the world’s first routinely-recommended malaria vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa, and collaborating with partners to stand up an East African regional molecular laboratory hub to detect emerging mutations threatening global malaria control efforts. She also enjoys mentoring junior Public Health Service officers and residents in the CDC’s Field Epidemiology Training Program in Kenya, the sister program of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service.In October 2022, CDR Ballard had the privilege of deploying to Operation Bushmaster, an annual exercise conducted by the Uniformed Services University (USU). Operation Bushmaster simulates a high-paced deployment in cold, austere environments where uniformed medical and nursing students conduct medical support for combat operations. As a member of the USU faculty team, she precepts students as they track disease/non-battle injuries, investigate disease outbreaks, provide technical assistance for public health problems in local communities, make public health recommendations, and provide care while responding to ethical challenges, mortar attacks, and mass-casualty events. CDR Ballard said that it was rewarding to see students come together to work as a team to accomplish mission. CDR Ballard had high praise for the students, saying “I would be proud to serve downrange with these young leaders.”
Born in Misawa, Japan, CDR Sarah-Blythe Ballard received her bachelor’s degree (in biochemistry and molecular biology) from Agnes Scott College, medical degree from Emory University, master’s degree (in public health), and PhD (in global disease epidemiology and control), and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins.
She is a Fulbrighter, NIH Fogarty Global Health Fellow, and Harvard Global Health Effectiveness scholar, holding medical board certifications in Preventive Medicine and Aerospace Medicine, and certificates in Tropical Medicine, Injury Prevention, and Health Finance from Johns Hopkins.
CDR Ballard believes being a Public Health Service officer means that she has the privilege and responsibility of being a servant-leader in public health, while constantly striving toward the greater good that unites us as global citizens.
When asked why she serves, CDR Ballard proclaims, “My name is CDR Sarah-Blythe Ballard, and YOU are #WhyIServe.”
She then adds, “Through my commission as a Public Health Service officer, I hope to leave the world a little better than it was when I arrived. For my fellow officers aiming to do the same, there is potential for greater impact if we work together.”