The nation’s acting surgeon general has close ties with the D.C. region, having earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing and health policy from the University of Maryland school system.
In late April, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams — a non-physician — became the first African-American nurse to assume the post of acting surgeon general of the United States. She’d previously served as an Army nurse and as a research scientist at the University of Maryland before moving on to a 24-year career with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Trent-Adams, a 1987 graduate of Hampton University in Virginia, has also served as a deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration.
