Captain Craig A. Shepherd, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Chief Environmental Health Officer
CAPT Craig A. Shepherd joined the Commissioned Corps in 1979 because "the opportunity to serve the citizens of the United States by making a significant impact on public health just grabbed me." He started his career as a staff environmental health specialist with the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (now the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA]). He was stationed at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., when it was the largest federally funded mental hospital in the country, housing approximately 1,800 mental patients.
CAPT Shepherd's next assignment was in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He was a milk/food specialist working with government agencies on food regulation and sanitation. In addition, he conducted blood-bank inspections, drug investigations, interstate travel sanitation inspections, consumer complaint investigations, and product recalls. On many occasions, CAPT Shepherd supervised and monitored food preparation at the request of the U.S. Secret Service for President Ronald Reagan, First Lady Nancy Reagan, and other dignitaries. At one event, President Reagan unexpectedly came into the reception area and, while there, spoke to CAPT Shepherd for about 30 minutes. CAPT Shepherd says, "That's one conversation I'll never forget."
CAPT Shepherd served more than half of his career with the Indian Health Service (IHS) in various capacities at several locations. He served as a staff environmental health specialist (EHS) at Headquarters, a District EHS in Alabama, and the director of an EHS program at the Nashville Area Office . At the area office, he worked with more than 20 tribes scattered from northern Maine to Southern Florida and Eastern Texas. He says, "working with tribal leaders and health care delivery personnel from many different tribes was definitely a highlight."
In 2003, CAPT Shepherd began serving as a senior environmental health officer in the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Soon thereafter, he was also appointed by the Surgeon General to serve a 4-year term as the chief professional officer (CPO) for the Environmental Health Officer category.
As the chief environmental health officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, CAPT Shepherd leads and coordinates environmental health officer professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services, advising the Surgeon General and the Environmental Health Officer Professional Advisory Committee on the recruitment, assignment, deployment, retention, and career development of environmental health officers. He says, "protecting and advancing the Nation's health through his assignments at SAMHSA, FDA, IHS, and CDC along with the ability to deploy and help people after natural disasters has been personally and professionally rewarding."
CAPT Shepherd has responded to various humanitarian and natural disasters, including a severe drought in Chuuk, an island group in the southwest Pacific Ocean. He conducted drought assessments of several islands in Chuuk with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). CAPT Shepherd's focus was on community water systems, water storage and collection systems, sewage disposal, and vector control during his tour to prevent a cholera outbreak similar to one a few years before the drought. "We had to figure out the most practical way to get potable water to those on various islands; large ships couldn't come close because the islands surrounded by reefs and [it was] too expensive to fly water in. Many of the hand-dug wells had salt-water intrusion. Desalination units were stationed aboard small ships and water was then pumped to shore into new jet fuel bladders which were used as water storage tanks," he explains.
CAPT Shepherd has a passion for the Commissioned Corps Commissioned Officer Student Training Extern Program (COSTEP) and regularly visits and recruits at accredited universities. "The great thing about the Corps is that you can practice the profession of environmental health in many different agencies and other programs, all of which have completely different missions- - making for an exciting career," he says.
CAPT Shepherd earned a bachelor of science from the University of Maryland and a master of public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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