Awards

COA National Awards

Each year the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service makes several awards:

• Branch of the Year Award
• Health Leader of the Year Award
• JD Lane Junior Investigator & Clinical Society Open Awards
• John C. Villforth Leadership Award
• Lucille Woodville Memorial Award
• Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award
• Responder of the Year Award
• The Robert Brutsche Award

Commissioned Officers Awards Program

The Commissioned Officers Awards Program is designed to give formal recognition to officers who have performed particularly well in carrying out the mission of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), to encourage maximum performance, and to improve the esprit de corps of commissioned officers. The PHS Awards Program has three types of recognition with several awards available within each type:

• Individual honor award
• Unit honor award
• Service award

PHS Commissioned Corps Training Ribbon, the first and only ribbon awarded for PHS training and authorized for wear on the PHS uniform. It is awarded to officers who complete both the Basic Officer Training Course (BOTC) and the Independent Officer Training Course (IOTC), a follow-up training course to BOTC offered on the Internet that requires an officer to complete a series of study modules.