What in the World is Beth Carr Doing?
After posting pictures of me in at my Officer’s Basic Training, I have about 50 frantic emails to reply to. Sorry that I didn’t warn everyone to expect to see me in a uniform soon. I hope this helps settle everyone’s concerns. I joined the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in June.
The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is a team of more than 6,000 public health professionals that serve under the U.S. Surgeon General. As one of America’s seven uniformed services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, & NOAA), the Commissioned Corps serves in public health roles within Federal Government agencies and programs. These agencies include the FDA (this is where I am currently stationed), NIH, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Indian Health Services, just to name a few.
Corps officers are involved in disease control and prevention, biomedical research, regulation of food and drugs, mental health and drug abuse, health care delivery, and international health. Another component of the Commissioned Corps is emergency response. Officers are trained and equipped to respond to public health crises and national emergencies, such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or terrorist attacks. Commissioned Corps officers were present during many crises in the past. The list below shows a few events where the U.S. Public Health Service had officers deployed to:
1999: work at the hospital center at Fort Dix, NJ for Kosovo refugees
2001: terrorist attacks
2001: anthrax attacks
2004/2005: tsunami and earthquake in Indonesia
2005: hurricanes Katrina and Rita
2006: medicine contamination in Panama
Corps Officers also deploy with the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy to provide medical care to those who fall under the ships’ current operations.
Why the uniform? Well, we are a uniformed service for starters. There is a short history of the USPHS Commissioned Corps below. Basically, we wear the Navy uniform as our roots are that of a maritime service. The Commissioned Corps also follows the Navy officer ranking scale.
How the Corps got started:
Around 1878, the prevalence of major epidemic diseases such as smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera spurred Congress to enact the National Quarantine Act to prevent the introduction of contagious and infectious diseases into the United States. Congress later extended the Act to prevent the spread of disease among the States. The task of controlling epidemic diseases through quarantine and disinfection measures, as well as immunization programs, fell to the Marine Hospital Service. At this time, the Marine Hospital Service was already operated by uniformed medical officers, who were formally commissioned in 1889.
In 1912, the name of the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service shortened to the Public Health Service (PHS). Legislation enacted by Congress broadened the powers of the PHS by authorizing investigations into human diseases, sanitation, water supplies, and sewage disposal. Our role has grown immensely since the early 1900s and will certainly continue to do so in the future.
If you have a degree in any of the below fields and you are looking for a unique and worthy career opportunity, please let me know. I am more than willing to talk to you about my experiences with the corps so far.
Physician
Nurse
Pharmacist
Dentist
Dietitian
Engineer
Environmental Health Officer
Health Services
Scientist
Therapist
Veterinarian
One Response to “What in the World is Beth Carr Doing?”
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August 20th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Congratulations Dr. Carr! I’m very proud of your accomplishments!