The Higher Education of the Surgeon General of the United States

Each day when President Trump meets with reporters to give a daily briefing on the government’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 virus, standing by his side is Jerome Adams, an African American man who serves as Surgeon General of the United States.

As the Surgeon General, Dr. Adams holds the rank of Vice Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. In this capacity, he oversees the operations of approximately 6,500 uniformed health officers who serve in nearly 800 locations around the world. Dr. Adams became Surgeon General in September 2017. He is the 20th person to hold the post.

Dr. Adams has experience dealing with public health crises. He is the former Health Commissioner of Indiana, where he led the state’s responses to Ebola, Zika, and to the largest ever HIV outbreak in the United States related to injection drug use. He is a former assistant professor of anesthesiology at Indiana University.

Dr. Adams received bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He earned a master of public health degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine.