United States Public Health Service

The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service (PHS), founded in 1798, as the primary division of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), (which was established in 1953), which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 1979-1980, (when the Education agencies were separated into their own U.S. Department of Education). The Office of the Surgeon General was created in 1871. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and Human Services and the Commissioned Corps. The Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) oversees the PHS and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.