RADM Jerrold M. Michael Fellowship

As a tribute to RADM Jerrold M. Michael (Ret.) on his 80th Birthday, The PHS Commissioned Officers Foundation for the Advancement of Public Health has established a Fellowship program to be named in his honor. This program provides financial assistance to officers of the Commissioned Corps pursuing advanced degrees. The Fellowship celebrates RADM Michael’s long and distinguished career as an advocate for improved public health education. His devotion to both the Public Health Commissioned Corps and academia is legendary.

Details and criteria for awarding the fellowships will be released  soon. For questions or further information contact John McElligott, Deputy Executive Director, at 301-731-9080 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

More About RADM Michael

RADM Michael's service to the nation was long and illustrious. After high school, he enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman at the end of World War II. He began his Commissioned Corps career in June of 1950 as an Ensign assigned by the CDC to research Polio in Arizona. In 1951 he became the Deputy Director of the Phoenix, Arizona Public Health Department. From December 1953 to August 1959, he instructed engineering and community health training activities of CDC. In 1959 he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he served as head of the national training activities for the PHS emergency health mobilization program under the Office of the Surgeon General. From 1962 to 1966 he was the chief of training and then became the Chief of Staff for the Division of Indian Health, Bureau of Medical Services.

In 1966, RADM Michael was assigned to the Bureau of Medical Services and its replacement, the Bureau of Health Services. Upon his assignment to serve as Assistant Director of the Bureau he was promoted to Assistant Surgeon General with the rank of Rear Admiral. He subsequently served as Assistant Director of the Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service. RADM Michael retired from the Corps in January of 1971 to begin his academic career at the University of Hawaii.

RADM Michael served as Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Hawaii from 1972 to 1992 and continued as Professor of Public Health through 1995. He currently serves as Emeritus Professor at the University of Hawaii and as an Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, D.C.

RADM Michael is a Diplomate in Environmental Engineering. He graduated from the the George Washington University (Civil Engineering - 1949), the Johns Hopkins University (Sanitary Engineering - 1950), and the University of California (MPH - 1957). He holds a DrPH from Mahidol University in Thailand and a ScD from Tulane University.

RADM Michael is a Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Elephant in Thailand. His awards include: the Sang Kancil Gold Medal by the government of Malaysia, the Magnes Medal by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Walter Mangold Award of the NEHA, the John Shaw Billings Award of the AMSUS, the PHS Meritorious Service Medal and Commendation Medal, and the Brutsche Award from the Commissioned Officers Association of the USPHS. He is an honorary member and tribal leader of the Chippewa Indian tribe. The Surgeon General of the United States presented him with the Surgeon General’s Medallion for a life time of service to the nation.