US surgeons general inspire passion for public health: Nation’s top doctors receive ovation
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* Lindsey Wahowiak

If, during APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition, someone had a question about public health, there was no better time to get an answer than during Monday’s session with the surgeons general.

The Nov. 17 event featured six current and former leaders from the Office of the Surgeon General, who traced the modern history of the office and rallied attendees for public health. Their words had a profound effect: As the session went past its advertised ending time, few left the auditorium, and when the doctors were done speaking, the audience rushed the stage.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/44/10/1.1/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/44/10/1.1/F1)

Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello, right, shakes hands with Annual Meeting attendees who mobbed the stage after a Nov. 17 session with some of the nation’s former top doctors.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Current acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak, MD, MPH, who opened the session by announcing his predecessors and lauding their work, called himself “a kid in a candy store” for being surrounded by leaders in the field and their wealth of knowledge.

Lushniak also made a point to highlight the importance of the position of the surgeon general.

“When the surgeon general speaks, people want to hear,” Lushniak told a packed auditorium at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

Each surgeon general took the microphone to discuss the highlights of her or his tenure — most to wild applause from the audience.

It was former Surgeon General Antonia Novello, MD, the first female surgeon general, who most often brought the crowd to its feet — and to laughter, many times over. When discussing her term, from 1990 to 1993, Novello compared herself to Ginger Rogers, and her predecessors to Fred Astaire: “Doing the same dance, but in reverse and in high heels.”

Novello championed women’s health during her term, reminding the audience that during her time as surgeon general, the first Government Accountability Office report was released implementing the rule that “if a woman pays her taxes, she deserves her own research,” as well as the first national report on HIV/AIDS and children.

Former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, who served from 2009 to 2013, shared some lasting examples of her efforts: She created a mandate that prohibits Public Health Service officers from smoking in uniform.

Benjamin’s Every Body Walk! campaign, which invites people to take a “soul stroll” for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, continues today with 400 partners as well.

Former acting Surgeon General Steven Galson, MD, MPH, noted that his tenure in the office, from 2007 to 2009, shared many parallels with Lushniak’s current service. Those similarities include a contentious Congress — and some nay-saying about the role of the surgeon general. No matter, said Galson. The American public needs a surgeon general to guide public health principles, he said.

“Leadership in public health does not require Senate confirmation,” Galson said. “We shouldn’t use (the) current impasse in the government as any excuse not to pass a public health agenda in this country.”

Former Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD, FAAFP, FACPM, FACP, who served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said that the work the surgeon general does is “irreplaceable.” He issued the first Surgeon General’s Reports on mental health in 1999 and obesity in 2001 and “The Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior” in 2001.

Satcher noted that with this year’s Annual Meeting theme, “Healthography: How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well-Being,” public health advocates must work to fight health disparities in their own communities and around the country.

![Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/44/10/1.1/F2.medium.gif)

[Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/44/10/1.1/F2)

Speakers at the surgeons general session accept applause from the audience during the Nov. 17 event at APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting. From left are Lushniak, Regina Benjamin, Galson, Satcher, Elders, Novello and Georges Benjamin.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“In order to eliminate disparities in health, we need leaders,” Satcher said.

Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, MD, joked that she had the shortest tenure in the position, at just 15 months in 1993-1994, but she had plenty to say: she called the U.S. health care system “the best sick care system in the world.” She drew great applause for saying we should invest more in our health. She said that “ignorance is not bliss,” and mentioned a reduction in the teen birth rate and importance of reproductive health information as achievements of pride.

“You can’t keep an ignorant population healthy,” Elders said to a round of applause.

APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, asked the doctors what they think could be done to make the United States the healthiest nation in one generation.

The doctors agreed: Leadership, facts and funding for preventive health are the most important steps to making the country healthier. They also echoed the sentiments of the Annual Meeting’s Ebola awareness ribbons, which were emblazoned with the hashtag #FactsOverFear. That idea, the surgeons general noted, could improve the whole of public health.

![Figure3](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/44/10/1.1/F3.medium.gif)

[Figure3](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/44/10/1.1/F3)

Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders called for a greater investment in health during a Monday Annual Meeting event.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Lushniak had been leading the Office of the Surgeon General in the absence of a Senate-confirmed appointee. APHA and other advocates called on legislators to confirm Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, as the next surgeon general, citing his proven public health leadership. Murthy was approved as the new surgeon general by the Senate on Dec. 15.

To view the meeting session, visit APHA’s YouTube page at [www.youtube.com/aphadc](http://www.youtube.com/aphadc).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association