When it was originally established in 1889, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps only accepted physicians into its ranks. But as its mission expanded beyond its original mandate of caring for sick and disabled seamen and into the broader realm of public health, it began to acquire professionals from a host of other fields—dentistry, dietetics, pharmacology, environmental science, and even veterinarian medicine, to name a few.
As the Corps expanded, so did the need to recognize individuals whose dedication to service and commitment to excellence exceeded even the admittedly high standards established by the Corps. To that end, the Commendation Medal was created for officers whose prodigious efforts have resulted in exceptional achievements. Specific examples of the type of work for which the Commendation Medal is awarded include sustained, high-level accomplishments in a professional or academic field; the utilization of unique skills or developing creative or imaginative approaches in finding solutions to problems; and contributions of a technical or professional nature that have a significant impact in a limited area of the Corps mission goals.
The Commendation Medal is fourth in precedence of the six individual honor awards featured in the Commissioned Officers’ Awards Program, ranking below the Outstanding Service Medal and above the Achievement Medal. Notable past recipients of the honor include Antonia Novello, the 14th Surgeon General of the United States (who also simultaneously held the temporary rank of Vice-Admiral in the Regular Corps); Demetrius Albanes, M.D., who was awarded the medal in 1992 as a leader of the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study; and USPHS Chief Veterinary Officer Captain John D. Gibbins, who was named to that post in 2016.