Steven K. Galson

Steven K. Galson
Rear Admiral (ret) Steven Kenneth Galson
United States Assistant Secretary for Health Acting
In office January 22, 2009 – June 22, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Joxel Garcia
Succeeded by	Howard K. Koh
Surgeon General of the United States Acting
In office October 1, 2007 – October 1, 2009
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Kenneth P. Moritsugu
Succeeded by	Regina Benjamin
Personal details
Born	1956 Syracuse, New York, USA

Steven Kenneth Galson (born 1956) is an American public health physician. He is currently Senior Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs at Amgen, the S. California-based innovative global biopharmaceutical company. He is also Professor-at-Large at the Keck Graduate Institute for Applied Life Sciences in Clarmont, California. He is a retired rear admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and public health administrator who served as the acting Surgeon General of the United States from October 1, 2007 – October 1, 2009. He served concurrently as acting Assistant Secretary for Health from January 22, 2009 to June 25, 2009, and as the Deputy Director and Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration from 2001 to 2007. As the Acting Surgeon General, he was the commander of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and, while serving as the Assistant Secretary for Health, was the operational head of the Public Health Service.

Galson received his Baccalaureate Degree from Stony Brook University in 1978, an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1983, and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1990. In 2008 he received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Drexel University School of Public Health. He is board certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health as well as in Occupational Medicine.

From 1 October 2007 until 1 October 2009, Galson served as the Acting Surgeon General of the United States. As the nation’s top public health physician, the Surgeon General has two primary accountabilities: timely and effective communication of the best health information to the American people; and operational command of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, whose uniformed force of 6,500 health professional officers serve in over 600 duty locations around the world to promote, protect, and advance the health and safety of the people of the United States.