ROBERT C. WILLIAMS

 THE TENTH CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE USPHS COMMISSIONED CORPS

Chief Engineer: 1999-2005

Robert C. Williams was born in Boise, Idaho in June 1954 and is known to his friends and colleagues as “Bob.” He earned a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1976 and a Master’s degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in environmental engineering from Texas A & M University in 1979. On January 8, 1977 he married Karen Hassmann of New Braunfels, Texas.

He began his professional career in 1979 as an officer in the Army Medical Service Corps, serving at Fort McPherson, Georgia as a consulting sanitary engineer with a programmatic focus on water and wastewater facilities. In 1984 he transferred to the PHS Commissioned Corps, beginning his PHS service as an environmental engineer in the Special Studies Branch of the Center for Environmental Health at CDC.

In 1985, upon the creation of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Williams was assigned to the Office of Health Assessment as one of the forty charter employees of that agency. Two years later he was made chief of the Health Sciences Branch of the Office. In 1989 when ATSDR was reorganized with four operating Divisions, Williams was appointed Director of the Division of Health Assessment and Consultation. In this position, he directed a group of 170 personnel that performed public health assessments and health consultations/public health advisories on hazardous waste sites across the nation with a particular focus on the designated superfund sites.

In June of 1999 while retaining his ATSDR responsibilities, he was appointed to the position of Chief Engineer of the PHS with the title of Assistant Surgeon General and the rank of Rear Admiral (RADM) in the Commissioned Corps.

In 2004, RADM Williams was appointed Chief of Staff of the Office of the Surgeon General while still serving as Chief Engineer. In that new role he assumed the additional duties as Chief Operations Officer of the Commissioned Corps with responsibilities for the direction and management of the office of the Surgeon General. That included the areas of Science and Communications, Force Readiness and Deployment, Reserve Affairs, Commissioned Corps Operations and Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs. In 2005 after six years as chief engineer he completed his service in that role to devote full time to an ever increasing level of responsibility in the Office of the Surgeon General. In October 2007, he was appointed as the Acting Deputy Surgeon General.

RADM Williams, a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, is a member of the Emory University Academic Advisory Council, responsible for developing the university's environmental health curriculum. He maintains an active role in a variety of engineering and public health professional societies. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications/presentations on a wide variety of environmental health issues and is the co-editor of two professional books.

RADM Williams’ PHS awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, the Surgeon General’s Medallion, two Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medals, the Outstanding Service Medal, three Commendation Medals, an Achievement Medal and ten Unit Commendation Medals.

RADM Williams has also received the Stanley Kappe Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineering, the Gorgas Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States and the Cummings Award from the Society of American Military Engineers. He has also been named Federal Environmental Engineer of the Year and PHS Engineer of the Year. He has also been honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers as Government Engineer of the Year.

11/2007