The Chief Medical Officer (or CMO for short) also the chief surgeon of a Starfleet unit. He/she is responsible with maintaining the crew's physical and psychological health and fitness.
Duties & Functions
The CMO is responsible for conducting routine physical examinations and special duty physicals. Other duties include to diagnose and treat any crew ailments, run emergency medical drills, train the crew in first aid, set up remote hospitals and clinics and, when possible, find cures for any new conditions encountered by the ship. Starfleet vessels are often tasked to render medical assistance to any ship, station or planet in need, and the CMO is charged with ensuring that this is done. A ship's CMO performs any needed medical procedures and any elective surgery as authorized. The CMO coordinates with the Counselor or executive officer with respect to the crew psychological well being. The CMO prescribes special diets and exercise regimens as necessary. In regards to any special environments required by any alien crewmembers or visitors, the CMO coordinates with the Operations Officer. Another task assigned to the ship's doctor is to monitor the ship's food replicators to ensure proper nutrition and safety. The doctor will often accompany away teams as new planets can harbor deadly plant and animal life.
Ranks
Due to the sensitivity and responsibility of the position, the CMO is usually a Commander or a Lieutenant commander in rank. For minor starships, CMO's are of the rank of Lieutenant or Lieutenant junior grade.
Emergency Situations
In emergency situations where no other living medical doctor is found on a ship or station, the duties and responsibilities of the CMO fall on the Emergency Medical Hologram, or EMH. This was only known to have happened in two cases, both starship stranded in the Delta Quadrant: USS Voyager, and USS Equinox. Voyager's EMH was on-line for so long, that he developed a distinct personality, and was considered part of the crew.
Known Chief Medical Officers
- Leonard McCoy - USS Enterprise, USS Enterprise-A
- Beverly Crusher - USS Enterprise-D, USS Enterprise-E
- Julian Bashir - Deep Space 9
- EMH aka "The Doctor" - USS Voyager
- Selar - USS Excalibur, USS Excalibur-A
- Edinger Deet - USS Sunnyvale (2370)
- Uldo Osprin - USS Sunnyvale (2381), USS L'Étoile du Nord
- Span - USS Federalist
- Warragul Wirrpanda - USS Bajor
- Robert Dalton - USS Pioneer
- Michael Donaldson - USS Victory-D
- Kaycee Horton - USS Victory-D, USS Victory-E
- Zander Farrell - Deep Space 12
- Lillian Crusher - USS Valiant
- Jaryd Harker - USS El Dorado, then transferred to USS Twilight, as her captain
Vanguard Command
Onboard the Invincible-class Fleet Carrier-Heavy Battleship prototype USS Invincible, the Chief Medical Officer is Captain Beverly Crusher.
External Links
- Chief medical officer article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Chief medical officer article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Chief medical officer article at Star Trek Expanded Universe.