Richard Henry Carmona (born November 22, 1949)[1] is an American physician, nurse, police officer, public health administrator, and politician.

He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the seventeenth Surgeon General of the United States.

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002, Carmona left office at the end of July 2006 upon the expiration of his term.

[6] After leaving active duty, Carmona attended the Bronx Community College of the City University of New York, where he earned his associate of arts degree in nursing.

He completed a surgical residency at UCSF and a National Institutes of Health-sponsored fellowship in trauma, burns, and critical care.

In 1997, the Pima County system, which was in financial trouble before he was appointed, continued to lose millions of dollars and he resigned.

He was a peace officer leader of the SWAT division, with expertise in special operations and emergency preparedness, including weapons of mass destruction.

Dr. Carmona commented, "As a scientist and medical professional, I was first attracted by the depth and breadth of Herbalife's commitment to excellence in nutrition science.

As the son of poor emigrant parents, I am elated to see the opportunities Herbalife offers to families in health-disparate and economically underserved communities.

Carmona accused the Bush administration of preventing him from speaking out on certain public health issues such as embryonic stem cell research, global climate change,[24] emergency contraception, and abstinence-only sex education, where the administration's political stance conflicted with scientific and medical opinion.

[25] Carmona also testified that the Bush administration had attempted for years to "water down" his report on the dangers of secondhand smoke and pressured him not to testify in the tobacco industry's racketeering trial: "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried.

"[26][27] According to Carmona, he was even ordered not to attend the Special Olympics because the event was sponsored by the Kennedy family, and was told to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.

[28] Carmona said that his predecessors as Surgeon General had told him, "We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone's had.