The surgeon general of the Air Force and Space Force is the senior-most medical service officer in the United States Department of the Air Force and is the principal medical advisor for both the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. The surgeon general of the Air Force and Space Force is a lieutenant general who serves as head of the United States Air Force Medical Service (AFMS). The surgeon general is usually the senior Medical Corps officer, but acting surgeons general have been from other branches of the medical service. Prior to 2020, the position was known as just the surgeon general of the Air Force, but was renamed with the establishment of the Space Force.
In September 1947 the combat elements of the Army Air Forces separated from the U.S. Army, forming the United States Air Force. But a few Air Force support functions, such as medical care, remained U.S. Army responsibilities for the next two years. Starting in 1948, the Air Force and the Air Surgeon, Maj. Gen. Malcolm C. Grow (1887-1960), began to convince the U.S. Army and the administration of President Harry S. Truman that the Air Force needed its own medical service. In the summer of 1949, Air Force General Order No. 35 established a medical service with the following officer personnel components: Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, Air Force Nurse Corps, and Women's Medical Specialist Corps.