Congressional Public Health Leadership Award

Award Recipients  

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Senator Duckworth is the recipient of the 2022 COA Congressional Public Health Leadership Aware. Senator Duckworth introduced extending Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) to USPHS Ready Reserve Officers and included it in the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law in late 2022. Senator Duckworth’s staff worked with COA throughout the summer and fall to develop over a dozen proposals for USPHS parity. After months of collaboration, Senator Duckworth’s office offered a list of over a dozen proposals to be added to the NDAA manager’s package to include: National Parks Passes; Ready Reserve parity for GI Bill and TRICARE Reserve Select; codification of the Ready Reserve Structure; Ready Reserve inclusion in USERRA; and parental leave parity. Senator Duckworth’s commitment to public health and USPHS is palpable.

  2021: Kimberly Espinosa, Majority staffer, House Energy and Commerce Committee

2019: U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL); Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD); Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18); Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX-26

2018: U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (Texas)

2017: U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (Maryland)

2016: U.S. Senators Chris Coons (Delaware) and Johnny Isakson (Georgia)

2015: U.S. Representatives Rob Wittman (Virginia) and Gene Green (Texas)

2014: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois)

This award was established by the Commissioned Officers Association, a non-profit organization which represents the U.S. Surgeon General and the thousands of active duty and retired officers of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.

This award is presented annually to a deserving Congressional Leader who has championed public health and upheld the missions of both COA and the USPHS. Nominations are overseen by COA leadership and the Legislative Affairs Committee. For more information, please contact COA’s Executive Director, Jacqueline Rychnovsky, at [email protected].