New Surgeon General

Appointed last week by President Eisenhower as the new Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service: Leroy E. Burney. 49, for the past two years an Assistant Surgeon General under Dr. Leonard A. Scheele, who resigned last month (TIME, July 9).

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Indiana-born, Burney took his M.D. in 1930 at Indiana University School of Medicine, later studied at Johns Hopkins under a Rockefeller fellowship, went directly into public-health work. Pioneered mobile venereal-disease clinics, was assigned to the Navy during World War II, and went overseas to help fight VD among U.S. troops. Served as public-health commissioner of Indiana between 1945 and 1954, when he was called to Washington. With only two years as a top-ranking official in the U.S. Public Health Service, Burney surprised Washington by his appointment (ahead of other leading contenders) to boss the Government's vast health organization (annual budget: $400 million).

PERSONALITY: Brown-haired, blue-eyed, meditative, Burney is married (two children), likes to read American history, plays golf in the mid-80s, enjoys swimming with his family at the pool of their apartment 'house in Alexandria, Va. An active joiner of medical organizations, he enjoys working with Boy Scout groups, helps them in health and safety work.

Burney's predecessor, who was involved in last year's troubles over polio-vaccine distribution, resigned (with a disability pension) to take a $60,000-a-year job. By a recent act of Congress, the new Surgeon General receives $22,626 annually--$5,826 more than Dr. Scheele.

Since the ambitious program to inoculate U.S. children with Salk polio vaccine got under way 16 months ago, the U.S. Public Health Service has allocated the vaccine to each state to ensure a fair distribution. Last Week, as his last official act as Surgeon General, Dr. Scheele took note of plentiful supply, ended Government control. Now the vaccine will flow through commercial channels directly to areas where demand is greatest.

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