William H. Stewart

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William H. Stewart (May 19, 1921 – April 23, 2008) was an American pediatrician and epidemiologist who served as the 10th Surgeon General of the United States from 1965 to 1969.

Early life and education
Stewart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He began college at the University of Minnesota and finished his undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University in 1942 after his family moved to Baton Rouge. He earned his medical degree from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans in an accelerated program tied to the U.S. Army. After graduating in 1945, he served as a first lieutenant and completed a brief internship before working as a Medical Officer at Brooke General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and later at a Veterans Administration hospital in Minnesota. He then returned to Baton Rouge for a pediatrics residency at Charity Hospital from 1948 to 1950.

Public Health Service career
Stewart’s path in public health began with the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control. In 1951 he joined the Public Health Service and was sent to CDC’s Thomasville, Georgia Field Station, where he studied the control of childhood diarrheal diseases and the use of DDT against typhus. He later worked at the National Heart Institute and led the Heart Disease Control Program starting in 1954. He returned to NIH in 1956 to lead the Technical Services Branch and joined the Surgeon General’s staff in 1957. He directed the Public Health Methods unit and later led the Division of Community Health Services. From 1963 to 1965 he worked with key federal health leaders on issues related to health services delivery and funding, including Medicare and third-party reimbursement.

Surgeon General (1965–1969)
Stewart was nominated to be Surgeon General on September 24, 1965, during a time of expanding federal health programs and changing health care policy. As head of the Public Health Service, he helped shape efforts to improve access to services, integrate planning, and respond to new programs like Medicare and Medicaid. He oversaw hospital certification under the Civil Rights Act before Medicare reimbursement began, and used the DeBakey Commission’s findings to support the Regional Medical Program for heart disease, cancer, and stroke. He also guided major reorganizations of PHS to focus on health services, environmental health, and consumer protection, while balancing the agency’s growing responsibilities with budget constraints. In August 1969, he resigned as Surgeon General and returned to Louisiana.

Later career and death
Stewart went back to Louisiana State University’s Medical Center in New Orleans, serving as Chancellor from 1969 to 1974 and then as Professor of Pediatrics and department head from 1973 to 1977. He also served as Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Human Resources from 1974 to 1977 and later led LSU’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. William H. Stewart died in Metairie, Louisiana, at age 86, from complications of kidney failure.